Protectors of the Right
by NeoVenus22
Summary: PRDT. Various short, unrelated oneshot ficlets for Dino Thunder. Formerly known as 'Shorts'. LATEST SHORT: 'Red With Envy'.
1. PRDT: Wedding of the Year

NEW: Anyone paying attention might notice that this "story" was previously known as "Shorts" (and before that, "One At A Time"), and housed ficlets from various seasons of Power Rangers. For clarity's sake, I decided to break up all these ficlets and house different archives by season. "Protectors of the Right" is for Dino Thunder.

Remember, none of these are chronological, related to one another, and many don't take place within the context of the season.

Questions, comments, concerns, and even requests can be sent to me NeoVenus22 at .

**Fandom:** PRDT

**Character/Pairing:** Trent/Cassidy

**Title:** Wedding of the Year

**Dialogue:** "It's like watching a train wreck."

* * *

"It's like watching a train wreck," Conner observed, staring at the invitation in his hand.

Across the table from him, Kira looked as though she might be ill. "It's disgusting and hideous, and yet you can't bear to look away?" she asked.

"Something like that," said Conner.

Ethan appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. People frequently dropped by Conner's apartment unannounced, Kira and Ethan in particular (and with regularity), and he enjoyed the spontaneity and intimacy of it. "Please tell me that I'm hallucinating," he said, and Conner noted that he was holding a lacy white card in his hand, as well. "Please tell me I've developed a severe drug habit, and this is just me tripping."

"Oh, it's all too real," said Kira. "All too horrifically real."

Ethan straddled the spare stool at Conner's island. Ethan opened the card and announced, "'You are cordially invited to attend the nuptials of Mr. Trent Fernandez and Ms. Cassidy Cornell.'" He looked up to stare at them with scared eyes. "Has hell frozen over?"

"I dunno," said Conner. "I figured for sure they'd have broken up by now."

"Six months is way too soon to be getting married," said Kira.

Ethan cocked an eyebrow at the woman. "You're not still pining over him, are you?"

Kira laughed. "Please, Ethe, I haven't 'pined' over him since he started wearing white spandex."

"I seem to recall that you two dated for a year and a half, however," said Conner.

Predictably, she swatted his arm. "I stupidly found love elsewhere," she said with an eye roll, and smirking, Conner leaned across the countertop to kiss her.

Ethan gagged. "You two are almost as disgusting as the Wonder Couple," he said, though he was secretly pleased that Conner and Kira were together, having never found an iota of the chemistry the two of them possessed anywhere in Kira's relationship with Trent.

"Can't we skip it?" Conner whined, thoughts of Kira floating out of his head at the mention of the gruesome twosome. They were both good friends of the trio, and with Devin, Hayley, and Tommy thrown in, they were a tight-knit group. The idea of those two together had first amused Conner, but now disturbed him greatly.

"You two are ushers," said Kira gravely. "And I'm a...a..." she shuddered, "bridesmaid." She was actually the maid of honor, but both boys knew enough to not bring that up.

The door opened again, and the third usher strolled in, plant in hand. After Cassidy had fallen head over heels for Trent and spent all of her time with him, Devin had started work at a local florist, having adopted the permanent (and sometimes disturbing) company of a ficus plant.

"You got one too, huh?" said Conner, noting the garish envelope tucked in Devin's arm next to the ficus.

Devin gently set down the plant on the countertop and then hoisted himself up next. "It's unholy, is what it is," he remarked, and the trio started laughing. "It's going to be garish and weird and it's either going to be the wedding of the year, or a--"

"Train wreck?" Conner supplied.

"Exactly."


	2. PRDT: Lightning Bolts and Holy Horrors

**Fandom:** Power Rangers Dino Thunder

**Character/Pairing:** Kira/Conner

**Title:** Lightning Bolts and Holy Horrors

**Dialogue:** "So what? Your afraid to go camping with us? Were harmless!" "I actually do doubt that, it would surprise me if you stuff her into your bag in order to get her to go."

* * *

"I'm not going," said Kira firmly. "No way, no how, nothing doing."  
  
"And why not?" said Ethan, a joke that only he knew the punch line to clouding his voice.  
  
Kira ticked off the reasons on her fingers. "Bugs—ticks, Lyme disease, spiders of all sorts, mosquitoes, gnats, West Nile—need I go on?" But she was only just getting started. "Bears. Forest fires that you two idiots would set because Conner for whatever reason had his heart set on barbeque or something equally idiotic. Ethan's whining for two whole days about how there's no Internet in the woods. Conner probably snores. And furthermore...neither of you would be of any use in the woods. This trip is tonight--have you packed all the essentials? Face it, we'd all die."  
  
"So...what?" said Conner. "You're afraid to go camping with us? We're harmless!"  
  
"I actually do doubt that," interjected Ethan, laughing at his best friend. "_I'm_ harmless, but she's right, you're incompetent, and you probably _do_ snore. But you know, it wouldn't surprise me if you stuffed her into your bag in order to get her to go." To Kira he added in a conspiratorial tone, though Conner was right there, "He really wants you to come."  
  
"He's been harassing me about it for three days now," said Kira. "And really now, Conner, what possessed you to go camping?"  
  
"To get you alone in the woods," said Ethan. Conner hit his arm as the shorter boy cackled wildly. Kira was looking exasperated. Conner, unbeknownst to either of them, was blushing.  
  
"Well, I'm a lot of things, but I'm not insane."  
  
"You're a lot of things, all right," said Conner, "and one of them is going." He dropped the cocky attitude, letting out the Conner that no one had ever seen but these two. A pleading, desperate-eyed Conner. "Please?"  
  
In that one word, in that one expression, Kira felt a tug. She almost couldn't believe it when the words came grudgingly from her lips. "Fine."  
  
He grinned, an all-encompassing grin that became his entire face, and became their faces as well as they all beamed dorkily at each other for a moment.  
  
Kira pushed open the front door to the school. The sky exploded in a boom of thunder and a crackle of lightning that indicated to anyone not standing in it that a downpour had arrived. Kira laughed. 


	3. PRDT: Denial Isn't Just A River, vers 1

**Fandom:** PRDT

**Character/Pairing:** Conner/Kira

**Title:** Denial Isn't Just A River

**Dialogue:** "I'm NOT in love with her."

* * *

"Would you just drop this?"  
  
"You have three posters of her up in your room," said Ethan. "You carry her picture in your wallet. She could spell your name with an OR --I know how much you hate that-- and you'd probably go downtown and have it legally changed."  
  
If Conner was the type to stick out his tongue, he would have. Instead, he just glared. Ethan smirked. "Mr. Conner Styles," he taunted.  
  
"Dude," said Conner, "shut up."  
  
"Mr. Conner _who_?" asked Kira, sitting down next to the boys.  
  
Conner coughed and became fascinated by his straw wrapper. "Nothing."  
  
She gave him a teasing poke. "You still have that crush on Kylee?"  
  
"He's in love with her," said Ethan conspiratorially.  
  
"It's NOT a crush, and I'm NOT in love with her," said Conner. "I just think she's hot."  
  
"Aw, that's so cute," said Kira.  
  
Ethan's eyes widened and he turned to stare at her. "You think it's _what_?"  
  
She blushed. "Not like cute, like I wanna have his kids or something, but cute like funny, like a puppy that falls over a lot or something."  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about."  
  
"Aw, you know you think I'm cute," Conner teased, glad to have the focus off himself.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"C'mon, you might as well admit it. Everyone else thinks I'm cute."  
  
"And they also think you're a conceited jackass--hmm, wonder why?"  
  
Ethan laughed. "You two are bad for my brain. I'm going to go catch up on my video games. Catch y'all later." He clapped them both on the shoulders and retreated to his usual alcove console.  
  
Alone, suddenly they were nervous. Conner's attractiveness was a taboo subject that they couldn't even mock unless Ethan was there. Conner tied his straw wrapper in a knot and pulled it so tightly that it ripped. "I thought you were over that whole Kylee Styles thing," said Kira.  
  
"I am. Ethan doesn't know anything."  
  
"To be fair, his idea of a dream girl is that chick from Tomb Raider. And I don't mean the movie." They shared a smile.  
  
"You know, the thing about Kylee...she's cute and all, but she's got, like, zero personality. And she was pretty mean."  
  
"Conner McKnight, was that actually a non-shallow statement?"  
  
"Yeah. Write it on your calendar," said Conner sardonically.  
  
Kira smirked and ducked her head, arranging the sugar packets absently into shapes. "So."  
  
"So," echoed Conner. There was a lengthy pause, before he said, "You wanna come over to my house after school tomorrow? If you're not busy, I mean. We can listen to Kylee's album," he joked, poking her in the shoulder the same way she'd poked him.  
  
Kira met his eyes. "Sure. That sounds fun." She looked a little flushed, as though Hayley had turned up the heat in the building. She swept her hand over her sugar formation, erasing the fact that they were arranged in the shape of a heart. 


	4. PRDT: Denial Isn't Just A River, vers 2

Same challenge as the previous--I liked it so much I had two ideas for it.

**Fandom:** PRDT

**Character/Pairing:** Conner/Kira

**Title:** Denial Isn't Just A River

**Dialogue:** "I'm NOT in love with her."

* * *

"I'm NOT in love with her," said Conner hotly.  
  
"Would the world end if you just told her?" Ethan countered.  
  
"No, the world wouldn't end, but she'd pretty much kill me and thanks but no thanks, not looking forward to the death thing." Conner sighed and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "'Sides, if she didn't kill me, Trent would."  
  
"What, you're scared of Trent now?"  
  
Conner looked offended and horrified all at once. "What? _Hell_ no."  
  
"So just tell her, would you? Worst comes to worst, she laughs in your face. Best-case scenario, she drops everything and runs off to the Caribbean with you or something." Conner frowned, and Ethan touched his arm lightly. "Dude, I was just kidding about the running away thing."  
  
"How come whenever you mention telling her, I totally feel like running away?"  
  
"I don't know. Maybe because you're scared to be in love with her."  
  
"Dude, it's Kira. She's been my best friend for two years now."  
  
"Exactly. And that's why you're scared. You don't want things to change."  
  
"Would you?"  
  
"They're already changing, Conner. Face it. Things haven't been the same in a long, long time."  
  
"Sometimes I feel like I can't breathe without her, dude."  
  
Ethan nodded his sympathy.  
  
"And I feel bad, 'cause Trent's my friend, too, but I've loved her longer than he has, and..." He groaned loudly and looked like he wanted to rip his hair out. "It's complicated."  
  
"You have to do something, or you'll drive yourself completely crazy," said Ethan sagely. This time it was Conner's turn to nod in understanding. "Hey, man, if it doesn't work out, you know I'm still here for you, right?"  
  
"Right, dude," said Conner, and he flashed his friend a half smile. It was completely sincere, but he simply couldn't work up the energy to give Ethan a full one.  
  
They both heard the bell of the door and both turned to see Kira coming in, a smile on her face and a bounce in her step. She crossed the room to them. "Hey, guys! What's up?"  
  
Conner took a deep breath. "Kira, there's something I have to tell you..." 


	5. PRDT: Pick of the Litter

This one came without a challenge, idea spurned from a conversation revolving around Conner's jewelry.

* * *

"Morning, Con." Conner heard Kira's voice before she slunk into her usual chair in first-period science.

"Hey," he said, flashing her a smile. "What's up?"

"Not much. How have the festivities been going?" she asked.  
  
"Festivities?"

"I _do_ go to this school, Conner. I'm well aware that your birthday is practically a holiday." Conner blushed. The fact that girls tended to celebrate his birthday was very much true, but it was only this year that it caused him any embarrassment.

"Yeah, well," he said lamely.

"I hope no freshmen have lavished you with gifts yet, 'cause then mine will be meaningless," she said.

Conner's eyes widened. "You got me a present?"

It was Kira's turn to go red as she fished in her backpack and produced a small box, which she slid across the empty space normally occupied by Ethan. It was a small white jewelry box, tied with a simple red bow. "I'm not good with bows," Kira offered as nervous babble.

Conner said nothing, merely untying the ribbon and lifting the lid. Lying on the cotton bed was a guitar pick. Conner was momentarily confused, as he had the musical skills of an aardvark, until Kira explained, "It's the pick from my first show."

Conner smiled. Kira's first show had been the day that he'd committed himself completely to the team, so it was an important relic.

"This is important," said Conner. "I--you should keep it."

"I want you to have it," she insisted, with a tiny, anxious smile.

"Thanks, Kira," he said, answering her hesitance with a huge, grateful grin. "This means a lot." He got out of his seat, darted around Ethan's chair, and wrapped her in a hug. She was suprirsed at first, then melted into it. Conner realized after a moment that he and Kira had never hugged before. They were in awkward positions, him bent to embrace the already short, seated Kira, but even so, the hug was not uncomfortable in any sense of the word. "Happy birthday, Con."

It was over quickly, though, and Conner was back in his seat, smiling down at his present. Dr. O. came into the room then, Ethan hurrying in after the teacher and sliding into his seat, trying to pretend he'd always been there.

"So what's going on?" asked Ethan. "Why's Conner smiling like that?"

"Because it's the day," said Kira.

"_The_ day?" said Ethan, and groaned. "Aw, man. Happy birthday, Conner. Any lavish gifts from the ladies yet?"

Conner tucked Kira's box in his pocket. He noticed Kira shaking her head slightly, and so he said, "Not yet."

"Ah, well, it's early yet," said Ethan dismissively.

As the day progressed, Conner did, in fact, receive several gifts from shy freshman girls. Ethan got more exercise rolling his eyes and shaking his head in bemusement than he did in gym class. Conner's method on his birthday was normally to take the gifts and then laugh about it with his soccer buddies. This year, however, he issued brief hugs to all of his admirers (having been inspired by his gratitude to Kira), and sincere thanks.

"Where's that famous McKnight ego?" asked Ethan, wearing a smirk.

Conner went red. "Hey, Ethe, where's _your_ present?" he said, elbowing Ethan in the ribs.

Ethan rubbed his side, laughing. "And there it is."

"He's right, though," said Kira to Conner. "The Conner I know isn't such a man of the people." A small smile came across her features. "Gotta admit, I like this Conner better."

"And I like this anti-antisocial Kira better, too."

To his surprise, Kira flushed slightly and looked away. Ethan must not have noticed. But Conner shrugged and changed the subject.

That day after school, Conner spent his time at the Cyberspace with his friends, a relaxed celebration. The next day, though, he went into his dad's shed after classes got out, and very carefully went about drilling small holes in some practice objects before making a neat hole in the wide part of Kira's pick. With a grin, he strung a leather cord through it, knotted it, and looped it around his neck.

At school, several people complimented his new necklace. Conner only smiled. Kira noticed it hanging at the base of his throat, and he though he saw her smile, but she never said anything.

Conner was comforted by the slight weight against his chest. It was a symbol of his friendship with the team, and of the most important and worthwhile relationship of his life.


	6. PRDT: Down the Road

**Character/Pairing:** Conner/Kira

**Title:** Down The Road

**Dialogue:** "Well someone's just a barrel of sunshine this morning!"

* * *

"We're late," Kira observed, as the Mustang tore down the road.

"Bite me," snapped Conner.

Her eyes widened, but her reaction was to slide some acid into her tone. "Well, someone's just a barrel of sunshine this morning."

He relaxed. "Sorry. It's early, is all."

"Yeah, well, no need to bite my head off, Conner. It's Wednesday. Don't push your luck."

"Hey," he said softly, poking her arm in a friendly gesture. "I _said_ I was sorry." Suddenly he slowed the car. "Hey, that looks like Devin." Sure enough, Cassidy's lackey was walking to school by himself.

"His scooter must be in the shop," Kira observed, rolling down the window. "Devin, need a ride?"

Devin looked up, relief lighting his face. "Sure, that'd be great, thanks." Kira popped the door open and leaned the seat forward so he could climb in the back.

"So, dude, what's up?" asked Conner as he started down the road again.

"Not much. Cassidy had something to do this morning before school, and my scooter has been acting up again, so..." he shrugged. "Hey, don't you guys usually ride with Ethan?"

"Ethan got a ride with his mom today," said Conner. "Does every Wednesday."

Kira coughed slightly, her cheeks going red, and she looked out the window. Conner smirked to himself, but if Devin noticed anything unusual, he said nothing about it.

Conner swung up to the front door of the school. "You're gonna be late for homeroom," he said.

Devin got out of the car. "You're not coming?" he asked.

"Gotta park the car," said Conner cheerfully. "See ya later, Devin!"

Conner pulled away before Devin could ask why Kira had to go with him to park the car. But he was late for homeroom, and ran up the stairs.

Conner pulled into his usual space. "We're really going to be late now," Kira complained.

"Hey, you could've gotten out with Devin," Conner said, stilling the engine. He ran a hand through his hair, causing it to flop about, and laughed. Kira rolled her eyes, and leaned over in her seat to meet him in the middle, where their lips touched playfully before the tender moment passed in favor of arduous fervor.

They were interrupted not soon after by the harsh tones of the homeroom bell, then the late bell. Kira groaned and pulled back. "I told you we were late. Dr. O. will freak."

"Let him freak," Conner said, pouting as he pulled her closer. She smacked his arm. "Conner!"

"What! Last time I was really late for homeroom, I got saddled with detention. Last time I got detention, I met you." He grinned and kissed her again.

"_Conner_," said Kira warningly, but she was smiling.

Minutes later, they were ducking sheepishly into the science room. "Conner, Kira," said Dr. O. "Is it Wednesday again?"


	7. PRDT: Geek In Love

**Character/Pairing:** Ethan/Cassidy

**Title:** Geek in Love

**Dialogue:** "Like the Lara Croft of the journalism world!"

* * *

"You just don't understand," said Ethan. "She's like... Like the Lara Croft of the journalism world!"

Conner frowned. "So she's Angelina Jolie?" He shook his head. "I don't see the resemblance, dude."

"No, no, no. Not like that. And Angelina Jolie was a horrible Lara."

"Wait, you prefer the pixilated version to the sultry hottie?" said Conner disbelievingly.

"You're totally misconstruing everything I'm saying. I was just pointing out that she's all about seeking the greater truth, you know? Digging deep. Kicking ass and taking names."

"Cassidy doesn't strike me as the ass-kicking type."

"Well, not in a Wonder Woman way, in a Lois Lane way."

"Seriously, dude, stop talking. You're out-geeking even yourself."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean!"

Cassidy swept into the Cyberspace then, saving Conner from attempting to explain himself. Ethan must have had all of his sensors set on 'Cassidy' mode, because she was all he saw, a potential danger if not for the fact that he was seated. She came over and took the empty chair that was usually reserved for Kira. Ethan took no notice. "Hi," she said with a shy smile. Ethan looked down at the tabletop for a second before reciprocating. Cassidy then saw Conner and greeted him with a much more casual, "Hey."

Conner nodded his head, but she was already bored with him, laughing at something Ethan had said. Conner leaned back in his seat and watched the couple, sort of spying on them, but sitting right next to them. They were so engrossed in each other, however, that Conner could have been tap-dancing naked and they probably wouldn't have noticed. Well, okay, they would have noticed that.

The Red Ranger had always found the Blue to be funny, but he'd never giggled like Cassidy was. Of course, Ethan had never rendered Conner love struck. He was surprised to find that the couple in front of him were both, in fact, love struck. With the throaty laughs and flirty eyes from Cassidy, the cocky-slash-charming grins from Ethan (obviously borrowed from Conner's repertoire). It was, for lack of a better word, cute. Conner was glad to see his best friend so happy, even if Conner believed that anyone could do better than Cassidy Cornell. However, the Cassidy he was seeing wasn't the one who'd been in at least one of his classes every semester since middle school.

Cassidy got up to get their drinks from the bar. Ethan leaned across the table to grin at Conner. "Isn't she cool?" he said, as though Conner had been listening to their entire conversation.

"Yeah, I guess?" said Conner.

"Plus, it totally doesn't hurt the ego that she worships the Power Rangers. I mean, yeah, it's kind of weird, 'cause she doesn't know it's me, but it's pretty cool. It's like we're Clark and Lois." Ethan went into that faraway mode of his, smiling fondly at Cassidy over Conner's shoulder, so that the other boy might roll his eyes.

"Seriously, man. Beyond geeky."


	8. PRDT: Raging Kissage

**Character/Pairing:** Kira/Conner

**Title:** Raging Kissage

**Dialogue:** "Anyone for a rousing game of Monopoly?"

* * *

_"Anyone for a rousing game of Monopoly?"  
_

Kira had posed the question innocently two hours ago, and since then, a grudge match had been going on in the basement lair that was home to the Power Rangers. Conner held the car piece (and his claims to fame were Illinois Ave. and St. James Place); Dr. O. was the horse; Hayley, the cannon; Kira, the dog; and Ethan was the top hat. Conner, with his two properties, was in last place and was making no moves to get himself out. Kira was in possession of Tennessee and New York Avenues, and was offering Conner everything for St. James, in the hopes that she could build properties. He was having none of it, however, much to the other players' delight. The other three didn't even attempt to purchase from Conner, although Hayley had had her eye on him after purchasing Kentucky Ave. from Ethan. But Conner's stubbornness and Kira's growing frustration was a source of great amusement as far as everyone else was considered.

"No, seriously, Con, two thousand five hundred and the electric company," wheedled Kira.

He shook his head, rolling the dice in his palm as he surveyed the board. He rolled a six and landed right on St. James Place. "HA!" he said, placing the car squarely in the center of his safe haven, smirking at Kira, who let out a growl.

"C'mon, Conner. Just give me the freaking card, would you?"

"Nothing doing, Kira," he said with an infuriating grin.

Suddenly she launched herself across the board, accidentally knocking over the pile of Chance cards as she attempted to steady herself, pressing her lips firmly to his. He looked surprised for a second, before closing his eyes. The kiss, clearly meant to only last a second, suddenly changed into a slower, and yet frenzied, rhythm. Dr. O. looked stunned, Hayley's expression was a cross between shock and 'I knew it', and while for a second Ethan looked surprised, he now looked gleeful.

Kira pulled away and fell back into her space. Both teens were flushed, out of breath, and a bit disoriented, but Kira was the first to recover. "Can I have St. James Place now?" she asked irritably.

He laughed. "Are you kidding me? No freaking way!"

"I _kissed_ you!"

"That was for my property?" he asked.

"Well, yeah," said Kira, then frowned. "Why? What did you think it was for?"

"Duh," he said.

"Because I _wanted_ to?" she asked incredulously. "Ew! Yeah, right."

Ethan raised his eyebrows, sharing a look with the two adults in the room, as though they all shared the belief that an effort to gain St. James Place was _not_ the motivation for the lip action they'd witnessed. Nothing that seriously intense could have been spawned from the need to acquire three orange properties. But to say anything would be to sign their own death warrants.

Conner shrugged. "Whatever, Kira." The two engaged in an impressive staring contest, as though they were alone in the room. "But if you want my card, you're going to have to work a lot harder than that."


	9. PRDT: I Will Always Love You

Kira was lying back on her mattress, a pair of massive headphones connected to her stereo sitting on her ears as she read through her history assignment. She was just beginning to enjoy the story of Joan of Arc when her door swung open. Immediately she threw off her headphones, about to yell at her mother.  
  
"I know I'm not supposed to come in here, but I kept knocking and you weren't answering, so I figured you had your headphones on," Mrs. Ford said. She nodded her head at the window. "I think you should check this out."  
  
Though the sounds of John Mayer were still coming out of her headphones, over them she could hear a peculiar buzz. She switched off her stereo, and walked across the room. "What is that?" she asked softly, yanking the window open.  
  
Situated on her side lawn was Conner, his voice rising above the chorus of a slew of dogs that barked and whined for him to stop. "And IIIIIIIIIII-ye-yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii will always love yooooo-OOOO-ooooo, ee-yiiiiiiiiii will always love," here he paused for a sharp intake of breath, then with his voice raised an impossible octave, "YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"  
  
Kira blanched. Behind her, Mrs. Ford was pressing her hand over her mouth, struggling to keep her laughter in check. "What are you doing?" called Kira incredulously out her window.  
  
"Serenading you," answered Conner.  
  
"Are you out of your mind?" she said.  
  
"I'm crazy, all right!" he declared. "Crazy with love for you!" Ethan must have put him up to this.  
  
Mrs. Ford squeaked, as she was rendered unable to keep from laughing any longer, and she choked on her own hysteria. Kira buried her face in her hands. "This is so humiliating," she muttered to herself, then leaned out the window again. "Conner, go home."  
  
"No way!" he said. "I have two more songs to go!" 


	10. PRDT: Gold Cummerbund

Title: Gold Cummerbund  
Character/Pairing: Conner  
Dialogue: "How about the powder blue one? I really liked the look."

* * *

"This is ridiculous," grumbled Conner, surveying himself in the three mirrors. "I hate prom."  
  
"Oh, please, you so do not," said Ethan, rolling his eyes from the plush chair he was slumped in. "You're giddy because you finally worked up the guts to ask Kira."  
  
"As friends, dude. Just as friends."  
  
Ethan's expression suggested that he thought otherwise, but he said nothing. At least, not about that. "How about the powder blue one? I really liked that look."  
  
Conner cast him the most scathing glare imaginable. "Are you out of your mind? That was the most hideous thing I've ever seen." He surveyed his reflection for a long moment. "Do you think Kira would like it?" he asked thoughtfully.  
  
Ethan thought that if Kira saw Conner in the powder blue creation, she'd laugh so hard she'd wet herself. Still, he was tempted to convince Conner that she'd love it, just to see the humiliating lengths his friend would go to in order to impress her. But the tux was too ugly, even for Ethan's evil plans.  
  
"She'd hate it," Ethan said honestly.  
  
"That's what I thought," said Conner, nodding. He turned to face Ethan. "What do you think, is this okay?"  
  
It was a standard tux. He looked fine in it. Well, of course, 'fine' was relative, considering that Conner was considered the sex god of Reefside High, if not the whole of Reefside, if not the entire southern coast. Putting him in a tux, while holding no effect on Ethan, was going to render the populace crammed into the country club where the prom was being held utterly speechless with lust. Kira included.  
  
Ethan offered his best friend a halfhearted thumbs up. "Looks good, dude."  
  
"You're sure," Conner said flatly, staring at his friend with anxious, penetrating eyes.  
  
"Positive. You'll be fighting them off with a stick. Not that you aren't already."  
  
"Right." Conner sighed, smoothing the pants over his thighs nervously as he continued to study himself in the mirror. Ethan had known the boy to be conceited in the past, but this wasn't conceit, it was complete desperation. Conner obviously wanted to make this night perfect and maybe finally achieve what he'd been trying to do since the beginning of junior year.  
  
Conner, apparently satisfied with his reflection --at least for now-- settled down in the chair next to Ethan as he waited for the shop attendants to return to them. "You know, you could totally wear the powder blue one," he said casually, jabbing Ethan in the side with a knowing look. "It's your color and all...I'd hate to see it go to waste..." 


	11. PRDT: Cracks in the Heart

**Title:** Cracks in the Heart

**Character/Pairing:** Kira/Conner

**Dialogue:** "She wasn't good enough for you anyways, Conner."

(spoilers for "The Passion of Connor")

* * *

"She wasn't good enough for you anyways, Conner," said Kira, watching as Krista danced with Devin for the third time in a row. Kira was glad, to a degree, because it freed up Cassidy to fall charm to Ethan's gentle, unsure flirting. All the same, she hated the way Conner stared forlornly across the gym at his date.  
  
"Of course she wasn't," he said sharply, looking away and meeting her stare directly. Why was it that from Conner, direct stares always made her uncomfortable? In anyone else, she was ready to rise to their challenge, but when confronted with Conner's hazel-eyed, penetrating gaze, she just wanted to concede defeat and walk away. "How could she be?"  
  
Kira had thought from the beginning, like Trent and Ethan, that Krista was all wrong for Conner. Not that Conner ever listened to anyone else's opinion when it came to matters like this. Whatever Conner said was right, and whatever anyone else said was a nuisance that just delayed him from his goal.  
  
"Then why go out with her in the first place?" demanded Kira.  
  
Conner shrugged. "A test."  
  
"Who were you testing?"  
  
"Me."  
  
"And did you pass?"  
  
"I'll let you know," he said sharply, looking back at the floor. She tried to follow his gaze, but got lost.  
  
Ethan could tango well enough, but when it came to the simple slow dance that was starting up, his eyes darted around the floor nervously, surveying the couples around him and determining where he should put his hands.  
  
Kira had been so engrossed watching her one best friend that she almost missed the other asking a question. She blinked at Conner. "I'm sorry, what?"  
  
"I was asking if you wanted to dance," he said.  
  
"Uh, yeah, okay," she stammered, allowing herself to be steered onto the floor by his steady hand.  
  
While Ethan had stumbled, Conner showed no hesitation, his arms around her waist. Snug, warm, as if he was comforting her, and not the other way around. "Are you okay?" she asked, looking up at him.  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Not brokenhearted or anything?" she asked gently.  
  
He laughed derisively. "God, Kira, do you ever let anything go? I'm not brokenhearted or anything. I'm fine."  
  
"I'm just trying to help."  
  
"You're helping," he assured her gruffly.  
  
"Conner, I--"  
  
"Could we not talk about this?" he said. "It seriously doesn't matter. It never did. I never really liked her that much to begin with. She was just...practice."  
  
"'Practice?'" echoed Kira, dumbfounded. "For what?"  
  
"For you," he said, kissing her slowly. 


	12. PRDT: Waning Light

Group LiveJournal Drabble Challenge

**Title:** Waning Light

**Dialogue:** "Stealth really isn't one of your strong suits."

* * *

"Stealth really isn't one of your strong suits," observed Ethan, as Conner thundered about with the sound of a hundred elephants.  
  
"I've never really had need to be stealth before," answered Conner sharply, and Ethan wasn't going to begrudge him that. Conner made a career out of being noticed. He thrived on attention.  
  
Still, Ethan felt the need to cut his best friend down at every turn, as that was half the fun of their relationship. "And don't you think the black is a bit much?"  
  
"Don't you think wearing stop sign red every day of my life is a bit much?" said Conner.  
  
Ethan allowed himself a small laugh. "You got me there."  
  
"I thought black fit better with the mission," continued the Red Ranger.  
  
"Okay, fine, whatever, but could you at the very least keep it down? You sound like there are about six of you."  
  
"C'mon, dude, everything in this place is made out of wood. Of course it's gonna, like, echo. You need to relax."  
  
"You expect me to relax?" said Ethan incredulously. "On a mission like this? I'm shaking in my shoes."  
  
"It's gonna be fine, dude. I mean, I'm leading it, right?"  
  
Ethan stared at him. "That's what I'm afraid of."  
  
"Shh, shh," Conner hissed. "It's go time. I want you standing guard. If things look bad, morph."  
  
"_Morph_? Are you out of your mind?"  
  
"You know what I mean."  
  
"That would imply I understood what goes on in your head, which thankfully, I don't."  
  
Conner cast him a disapproving glare before ducking into the main chamber. He had to move fast and quiet, otherwise his ass was grass. Fortunately, he found his target in a matter of seconds, pocketing the treasure with a triumphant grin.  
  
Until he heard the low groan and the thump.  
  
"Conner, we've got company! Pull out, pull out!" hissed Ethan, and Conner grabbed his arm as he passed, the two boys running like mad.  
  
"I don't know why he has to be such a light sleeper," complained Conner, as the Mustang pulled out of the driveway, the engine humming but not roaring.  
  
"He spent most of his life as a Ranger. Sleeping light must be a side effect," said Ethan with a shrug, pulling off of the black knitted cap Conner had insisted that he wear. He chucked it in the backseat. "Did you get it?"  
  
Conner nodded triumphantly, lifting the prize out of the inside pocket of his coat and handing it over. "Why did Kira want this, again?" he asked.  
  
"Are you kidding?" said Ethan, studying the photograph. "Did you see Dr. O.'s hair in this? With blackmail like this, we'll never have another test again." 


	13. PRDT: Milk and Cookies

No challenge. A prequel to my drabble "Gold Cummerbund". References to the misspelled episode "The Passion of Connor". Michelina Stewart is my own creation.

* * *

Conner dropped his bright red backpack on the floor, where it landed with a thump and fell over to one side with a second thump. He slid into his seat. "Hey."

Kira looked up, the slightest hint of amusement playing at her lips. "Hey."

"What'cha reading?" he asked, nodding his head at the book she balanced open in one hand, while she maneuvered her fork with another.

"Book on the Beatles," she said. "Do you want my noodles? They're fairly disgusting today."

Conner nodded, and accepted the lunch tray she pushed towards him. He would eat just about anything, even cafeteria food. "Don't you bring your own lunch?" he asked, slurping up a plastic forkful of lukewarm, slimy noodles.

"Not today," she said desolately, and he leaned to one side, attempting to rifle through his backpack while still cramming down the noodles. He pulled out a brown sack and handed it to her. "Cookies, apple, tuna sandwich. Mom still thinks I'm in third grade. All I'm missing is the miniature carton of milk."

"Conner, I can't take your lunch."

He shrugged. "Why not? I took yours. Besides, I usually get the hot lunch from the line, anyway. I get hungry."

"At least keep the sandwich for yourself," she said, passing the plastic-wrapped sandwich to him with a certain insistence.

Conner smiled, more appreciative of the fact that she was taking his gift than he was that he still got to eat the sandwich. The two friends chowed down in silence a moment before Conner finished the last of the noodles and said, "Hey, Kira, are you going to prom?"

Kira hefted one shoulder, chewed thoughtfully at her cookie, and swallowed before replying. "Don't know. Thinking about it."

"Have you been 'thinking about' a date?" he said, taking a long slurp from his Gatorade bottle.

"Not particularly," she admitted.

"Well, do you wanna go with me?"

Kira peered at him. "Are you serious?"

Conner was the picture of casual confusion, like he simply couldn't understand why she'd ask that. "Yeah, of course I'm serious. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm not really in the Conner McKnight Fan Club. I mean, don't you have a ton of girls mud-wrestling each other or something to go with you?"

"Yeah," he said, a blunt admission of the truth as only Conner could accomplish. "But I don't really want to go with someone that I can't be myself around. I'd rather go with you." He flexed his fingers around an empty milk carton, watching the cardboard bend and fold at his whim for a moment before meeting Kira's eyes. "Besides, who else would you go with? Ethan's got Cassidy, Trent's got Krista, Devin's got Michelina..."

"Are you asking me because Trent and Krista are going together?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously. "You think that we both got slighted by our exes or whatever, and this is some weird, 80's flick revenge?"

He laughed easily. "No. I was never really that into Krista. I think she and Trent are a good match for each other. And as I recall, _you_ broke up with _Trent_, not the other way around." He took a big bite of his sandwich. "No pressure," he reminded her. "Just two friends, hanging out at prom, laughing at everyone else. Just me."

She contemplated this a moment. "Okay, sure." She removed the last scraps from Conner's lunch bag and nodded. "Good cookies."


	14. PRDT: Mr McKnight Goes To The Ballet

Kira was regretting severely that her mother couldn't go to the ballet with her tonight. Every month, the two Ford women tried to think of something they wouldn't ordinarily do, and do it together. The ballet was something neither of them had ever experienced, but were vaguely interested in. But at the last minute, Mrs. Ford had come down with something, and Kira was left stranded with an extra ticket.

Dr. O. said that it would be "inappropriate," but he had looked squirmy at the mention of the ballet. Trent was doing 'take your kid to work day' with Anton Mercer, which meant he'd be gone for the entire weekend on some business retreat. Hayley was interested, but couldn't, as she had to fill in for absentee Trent. Ethan flat-out refused.

Conner, on the other hand, had nothing better to do. That, and Kira had found she could talk him into most things if she worked at it. She should have started with him, this fact in mind, but Conner was the last person she wanted anywhere near anything cultural.

For starters, he had to wear a suit. Kira had explained this to him over the phone an hour before he was supposed to pick her up. "It's classy, Conner, you can't just go around wearing jeans."

"Classy people wear jeans," Conner had argued. "Harrison Ford wears jeans."

Kira rolled her eyes and wished there was technology available that she might insert herself through the phone line and strangle her best friend. "Please, Conner, just look presentable. Okay?"

He huffed loudly, but agreed.

That was the least of her problems, though. He had shown up in a nice, charcoal gray suit with a maroon tie. He looked presentable, all right. He looked quite good, as a matter of fact, and was getting a lot of stares from the women in the crowd as they arrived at the opera house. Conner, naturally, was turning on the McKnight charm as high as it would go, smiling at every member of the opposite sex he saw. He looked good in his suit, and he knew it, and he didn't care who he flirted with. Kira's eyes were going to fall out of her head from her rolling them so much.

"Behave," she said in an undertone. "Jeez, Conner, that woman could be your mom."

"I know," he said. "But it's fun. Can't I have fun?"

"No," she said, and flashed a tight smile at the usher as he led them to their seats.

It was getting progressively worse. "That dude has one severe wedgie," said Conner.

"For the love of...shut up, would you?"

People several rows back could hear the portion of the program where he announced, "Dude, you can totally see his package! This is so not right."

"_Conner_!" hissed Kira sharply, and he subdued.

Not for long. For the remainder of the evening, Conner would whisper his asides to Kira, and she would snipe at him to shut it, well aware of all the people they were ticking off. Fortunately, though, it was dark, so Conner couldn't see the smile she fought to keep out of her voice when she reprimanded him.

As the evening finally came to a close, Conner and Kira lingered in the front hall of the opera house, watching the people stream by. "You know, I don't know why those ballet guys get all that hype. I could totally do that."

"You could not," she said.

"What, lift some chick? Of course I could. Those girls must weigh, like, nothing. It's gotta be so easy. Here, turn around."

"Turn--Conner! What..!" He hadn't waited for her to 'turn', putting his hands on her waist and attempting to lift her into the air.

He struggled, naturally, not having the professional training of the dancers he'd scoffed at. She could see his arms twitching as he managed to get her not a full inch off the ground. With a pained "AGH!," Kira was dropped rudely back on the ground. It wasn't far to fall, but she was off balance, and careened into Conner. He wasn't expecting the gesture, and the next thing either of them knew, they were sprawled out on the ground.

"Oh, jeez, I'm sorry..." blurted Conner. "Are you okay?"

"Define 'okay,'" she murmured, pushing against his chest to right herself. "Well, we can't show our faces here anymore."

He jumped to his feet and reached out to grab her hand, though she was mostly standing anyway. "I'm sorry, Kira."

She waved aside his apology. Owing more to his innocently snarky comments than to the performance, she'd quite had fun. She told him as much.

"Are you kidding me? I thought I'd ruined your night or something. I thought you were going to kill me."

"Only sometimes," she conceded with a smile. "Consider this my quest for your own personal betterment."

"Next time you want to better me, could you do it without me looking at guys' crotches for a couple of hours?"

So much for betterment.


	15. PRDT: Closing Time

Written prior to the name debacle of "Isn't It Lava-ly".   
Spoilers for "Truth and Consequences" from PRDT and "Countdown To Destruction 2" from PRiS.

**Title:** Closing Time

**Character/Pairing:** Devin/Hayley

**Dialogue:** "What's your last name anyway?"

* * *

"Hey, Devin?" asked Hayley, and the cameraman looked up to find he was the last one in the cyber café.

"Oops...sorry, Hayley," he stammered, getting out of his chair, assuming that she was kicking him out. "I'm done now."

"What? Oh, no. I was actually wondering if you'd help me close up. I'm a bit short-staffed tonight; Trent had Ra--uh, other stuff to do."

"Yeah, sure, I'll help." He started to shut down the computers.

"How'd you know I wanted that done?" she marveled, staring at him with a smile on her face.

Devin shrugged. "Cass stays until close sometimes, so I've seen you and Trent do it."

She hadn't previously realized how observant the boy was. She'd always thought he was either a saint or an idiot for putting up with Cassidy Cornell the way he did. Which brought a thought to mind... "Hey, Devin...what's your last name, anyway?"

He blinked in surprise. "It's Fong."

Hayley cocked an eyebrow. "But you're not..."

"Asian?" he laughed. "I know. I'm adopted."

She'd had no idea. "Does Cassidy know?"

"Of course Cassidy knows. Do you think a person like Cassidy could be hanging out with me that long and not know that about me?"

"You've got me there," she admitted.

"But she's pretty much the only one. Actually, I don't think anyone thinks of me even having a last name. Just 'Devin,' you know?" He started stacking stools on top of the counter she had finished cleaning. "I mean, she's Cassidy Cornell, and she's so dynamic that there's no room for me to be. Not that I want to. I'm happy where I am."

Hayley was continually being taken by surprise by this kid. She had never heard him string that many words together before. Certainly not around Cassidy, who never let him talk.

Moments of silence passed, and she found herself curious about what he thought about other things, asking, "How do you feel about all of the attacks on the city?"

He titled his head to one side, contemplating this. "I think that the attacks themselves suck, but that we're really lucky to live in a place that's so protected."

"Most people would've moved by now," she said.

"Maybe. But those people don't know what the Power Rangers are capable of, and how dedicated they are to keeping us safe," he said matter-of-factly.

"You really respect them, don't you?"

"My older sister really liked them, back when Astronema brought that huge attack to the earth, remember? And the Rangers revealed their identities, and one of them turned out to be an Asian girl, Cassie Chan, and my sister really loved that, so she got me into Power Ranger lore at an early age." He smiled. "Actually, she gave birth not so long ago, and my niece is named Cassie."

"Do you ever think about being a Ranger yourself?" Hayley asked.

Devin shrugged. "Not so much. It's cool just getting them on tape. It must be really hard to be a Ranger, living in secrecy when there are people like Cassidy around, and risking your life like that every day. How about you?"

"Be a Ranger? Me? No way. I'm too old." She smirked, remembering the very person that had first got her into the business. "Then again, age is relative, I guess. But you're right. It's really demanding. And I've got enough on my plate." And then, idle curiosity prompted her to blurt, "Who do you think the Rangers really are?"

Without hesitation, he said, "I think they might be Ethan and his friends. You know, Kira and Conner and Trent. They first started hanging out together when the year started, and that's when the Rangers first came out. I don't think it's just because of a 'school project' that they became friends. Plus, they wear the Rangers' colors all the time. Maybe all of that's just coincidence, but with a lot of other factors, it seems way too obvious to me." He said it in such a serious tone that Hayley didn't doubt he'd given it a lot of consideration.

And yet, she didn't feel threatened by his assumption. "How come you haven't tried to expose it? Especially with Cassidy so gung-ho about her big scoop."

Devin shrugged. "Some things are just meant to be kept secrets, you know? I was thinking about that when I first decided who the Rangers were; the whole thing with Astronema and the big reveal. And I get that the Space Rangers then had to do it. But being a Power Ranger is a really, really big thing, and you need the anonymity. If that's the only way I can help the Rangers, by keeping Cassidy off the trail, then that's what I'll do."

Hayley wanted to hug Devin then, for a variety of reasons. Instead, she just said, "That's really noble of you, Dev. Hey, I'm all done here. You can go if you want."

"Okay, cool," he said, shouldering his camera bag.

"Thanks," she called after him as he headed through the doors. He waved and smiled, and disappeared out them. "For everything," she added softly.


	16. PRDT: Late Last Night

Kira was scribbling frantically, about _this close_ to finally figuring out the stupid algebra proof. She had the answer on the tip of her tongue, it was all falling together-- 

"Kira, I need a favor."

She groaned and didn't look up. "If it's about algebra, I'll kill you."

"Can I kiss you?"

The pencil dropped out of her hand, and she looked up at Ethan. They were the only two people in Hayley's, music playing softly in the background because up until that moment, Kira had been alone. Hayley had given all the Rangers keys, and they came after hours as they pleased, as a group or individually, to study or watch TV, when she'd still had the big screen and satellite.

"Say what now?" she demanded incredulously, the algebra proof long forgotten.

He looked embarrassed. "Look. The thing is, I've never really...you know...kissed a girl before. And I just thought it was maybe a good idea if I got some practice or something, just in case...I mean, listen, you don't have to or anything, I was really just hoping that maybe I could kiss you and you could tell me how I was. But you don't have to," he repeated hastily.

"Um..." said Kira, frowning, not sure what to say. She finally settled on the question, "Why me?"

Ethan shrugged. "Well, you're my best friend. And I know you'll be totally honest with me. Plus, I can count on you to never, ever mention this to Conner."

She bit back a smile, just barely. "How do you know I wouldn't?"

Ethan was perfectly serious when he answered, "Because if you did, I would hand in my gem to Dr. O. and resign."

"You would not!" she insisted. "I wouldn't let you."

"Aw, c'mon, why not? You and Conner both did."

"I so never resigned."

Ethan smirked. "Are you kidding me? The day we got our powers, you threw a hissy fit in the quad, gave your gem to Conner, and stormed off."

"I did not throw a 'hissy fit,'" she said hotly. "And that's really sexist of you to say, because--"

Before she could really get into her rant, Ethan exercised the real reason he'd come here, one she'd forgotten about, and pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes widened in surprise, taking in Ethan's face before hers, before the confusion ebbed just long enough that she might relax into the kiss, and then it was over.

"What the hell..." she began.

"Sorry," he coughed, looking away. "I kinda figured you wouldn't let me otherwise, so..."

"Oh." She fought the blush rising in her face. She had never been rendered speechless quite like this before.

"So, how was it?" he asked, bringing her back to the present. There was pure pain etched into his face, as though he knew he was in line to be executed. She smiled at him warmly.

"No complaints, Ethe. Honestly."

"You're serious," he said flatly, looking at her with the tiniest bit of hope flickering in his gaze. She nodded, and the hope flourished into pride, as he smiled with both his mouth and eyes. "Cool." The grin faltered, and he went back to being serious Ethan, "Thanks, though."

"Yeah, sure," she said, looking steadfastly at her notebook once more. "Just next time, a little warning would be nice, you know?"

"_Next_ time?" he teased. "Kira, Kira, Kira, you naughty girl. What would Trent say?"

"Don't start," she warned him. "You know what I meant."

"Or Conner?" he continued with masochistic glee.

"_Ethan_," she said in a dangerous tone. He only grinned. She poked him in the arm. "Who were you planning on kissing, anyway?"

It was Ethan's turn to look away sharply. "No one."

"Yes, _some_ one," she said, rolling her eyes and propping a hand on his shoulder. "Otherwise you wouldn't be in here. C'mon, Ethan, who is it?"

"It's no one," he insisted. "How are you coming on the algebra homework?"

She narrowed her eyes at his diversionary tactic. He knew it was an unfair move. "Horribly."

"I finished it; need some help?"

"Please," she admitted dejectedly, and he scooted his stool over.

"Oh, man, this one threw me for a loop," he said. "The thing you gotta do here is..." He launched into an explanation of the problem, and it clicked before Kira's eyes. She grabbed the pencil from him and jotted it down. He grinned. "Yup."

"Cool," she proclaimed, and burst through the next three problems with aplomb. Before she knew it, her work was done. "This is great. Thanks," she said, shutting up her books.

"Anytime," he said. "Celebratory smoothie?"

"Hayley won't kill you for using her stuff?"

"What's the point in being a Ranger if you don't reap the benefits?" he asked with a grin. He ducked behind the counter and began throwing ingredients into one of the blenders. "Plus, I am officially trained."

"You worked here, like, two days," she said.

"It's just fruit, Kira," he mock-scoffed. He passed her a glass. "Here."

"Thanks," she said, and took a long drink. "Mmm, a number four, my favorite."

"I know," he smiled. He leaned against the counter, facing her. "So, what's the deal with you and Trent and Conner?"

"There's a deal?" Kira took a big swig to hide her face.

"Of course there is. Do you think I'm blind? You still have a thing for Trent, and Trent still has a thing for you, but you sort of have a thing for Conner, too, and Conner sort of has a thing for you. It's this whole big drama."

"It is not," she said, putting her glass down.

"It is so," he said. "Don't try to pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about."

"Conner has a thing for me?" she asked. "I mean, really? Has he said anything?"

"Is that the way you're leaning?" said Ethan carefully.

She tilted her head slightly. "I'm not really leaning any way," she said. "I'm just curious. Informed decision, and all that."

"So you'll be leaning one way or another in the future."

"Maybe."

"Yeah," said Ethan. "He hasn't said anything directly, but it's the way he says the things he doesn't say, if you follow me."

"I think I do."

"You're throwing him for a loop," the boy in blue confided. "He keeps thinking that maybe he has a chance with you, and once he builds up his confidence, you turn around and suddenly are super-chummy with Trent."

"They're both my friends," she said defensively. She sighed. "What about you?"

"I'm your friend, too," he said immediately, looking confused.

"No, I mean, what about your love life. I don't really want to talk about mine."

"What makes you think I have one?"

"Um, duh, why are you here?" she said.

"Listen, I really, really don't want to talk about it. Please."

Poor Ethan looked so uncomfortable that Kira felt guilty. She plucked a straw out of the jar on the counter and swirled it around in her half-finished smoothie. "Maybe neither."

"Neither what?"

"Trent or Conner. Maybe I don't want to get involved with either of them. I mean, Conner doesn't trust Trent, so if I get together with Trent, it's going to throw off the balance of the team. I'm the only thing really tying Trent to the team, so if I get together with Conner, he'll defect. It's complicated." She finished off her smoothie in one long gulp and stared into her glass, suddenly quite distressed by this notion.

Ethan's lips were on hers once more, warm and soft. He tasted like the blueberry smoothie he'd been drinking, and Kira found herself relaxing against him as they stretched across the counter to meet each other. It was completely surreal, so Kira decided instead to shut off her brain until he pulled away. "You're really smart, Kira, but you worry too much."

"Probably," she agreed.

"We're not mentioning this ever, right?" he asked, taking her glass and putting it in the sink. "I mean, I don't particularly want to face either of their wrath. Trent's kicked my butt one too many times, and now that Conner has that battlizer, I fear for my life."

"Understandable," she said, watching as he did dishes. "Between the three of them, I wonder if we as Rangers will ever get the credit we deserve."

"You will," said Ethan confidently. "You're the girl."

"You've got that cool hover cycle thing. Every kid in America is gonna want one of those."

"It is pretty tight, isn't it," Ethan said with a proud grin. "Gotta love Hayley." He wiped the glasses down with a towel and replaced them. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"

"Is there much point?" she joked. "We'll just be back tomorrow afternoon."

"Yeah, true that." He waited for her while she threw her stuff in her backpack and shouldered it. He locked up behind them. "Want me to walk you home?"

Kira smirked. "You think I can't take care of myself?"

"Of course I don't," he said. "You're only a girl, after all."

Kira hit his arm, laughing. "You're a jerk."

"Yup," he agreed cheerfully, sliding a comforting arm around her shoulders as they strolled down the dark street, and proceeded to tell her about how he had found a fan letter to Sting in Hayley's office. Kira was dying with laughter by the time they got to her house.

"I hope things work out with your mystery woman, Ethe," she said as she fished her keys out of her pocket. "You're worth it, you know. Don't be so hard on yourself."

"You shouldn't be either. I know you're just looking out for the best interests of the team, but maybe you should be looking out for your own best interests." He gazed at her seriously. She stepped over to him and gave him a hug. "I'm glad you're on the team," she whispered.

"I wasn't serious about leaving."

"I know. But don't ever."

"I won't."

Kira let him go. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," he echoed, watching her go inside before heading down the empty street.


	17. PRDT: Number Two Pencil Required

**Title:** Number Two Pencil Required 

**Challenge:** Trio, SAT studying, "Look, I may seem dumb, but I do well on standardized tests", and something unexpected happening under the table when someone drops a pencil.

* * *

"Conner, some of us are trying to study," Kira said in a tone that was just barely still patient, as the soccer player went over to Hayley's tape deck and fiddled with it.

"She's right, bro," contributed Ethan. "And you should be, too."

"Look, I may seem dumb, but I do well on standardized tests."

"'May'?" Kira muttered softly, as Ethan simultaneously mumbled, "'Seem'?"

"I heard that," Conner said, but his tone was still jovial. He punched a button on the machine, and a rhythmic tapping flooded the empty cyberspace, followed by Conner joining along with the song: "All my friends know the low rider...the low rider is a little higher..."

"I, for one, do not know the low rider," Kira announced, launching herself over Ethan to cross the space in two strides and shut off the machine. "You," she said sharply, jabbing Conner in the chest, "sit." The finger then moved to point at the space on the couch next to Ethan. "Study," the girl in yellow added.

Conner flounced back down on the cushion with a huff. "You guys suck."

"We don't all have soccer scholarships to fall back on, bro," said Ethan. "And you need a good SAT score, anyway." And the trio bent over their practice tests once more.

An hour later, Kira groaned. "I can't get any higher than a twelve hundred. I think this test is jinxed."

"Dude, that's not a bad score," said Conner.

"What'd you get?" she asked, leaning over to look at his paper, but he quickly twisted to hide his paper. "I haven't scored it yet," he said hastily. But in his hurry to hide the evidence from Kira, Ethan was at the perfect angle to read his paper.

"Fourteen fifty?" he said incredulously, and Conner turned to look at his best friend, alarmed.

Kira grabbed the test. "Holy crap, Conner. You weren't kidding."

"Way to go, dude!" said Ethan, and Conner briefly allowed himself an indulgent smirk, wiggling his fingers against Ethan's in one of those mystifying teenage boy handshakes. "I believe you've earned yourself a little bit of the oldies station."

Conner's expression plainly said 'whee!' as he all but ran over to the sound system. He flicked on the radio and was graced with The Cars' "Just What I Needed". He opened his mouth, clearly about to get into the song, when he noticed Kira staring dejectedly at her test score.

Conner turned off the radio. "It's just a practice test," he said, going back over to the couch. "What's got you down, math or verbal?"

"Math. I suck."

"That's my forte," said Ethan, picking up on Conner's vibe. "Let me see if I can work my magic." He and Conner switched places, Ethan helping Kira with the math portion quietly, while Conner got bored and stared at the radio wistfully, tapping his pencil erratically at the corner of the table.

The downbeat was a little too hard as he reached the mental chorus, and the pencil went flying out of his hands, clattering to the floor in an unseen location. Conner dropped to the ground, on his hands and knees, peering under the table where he suspected the pencil had rolled. But where he didn't find his writing implement, he found something far more entertaining. "Dudes! Check this!" he said, his voice muffled by the table separating them, and the table shuddered with a thumping sound. "FRIG!" he yelled, scrambling out from under it, rubbing the back of his head while his friends stared.

"Con--?" said Ethan expectantly.

"Check what I found," said Conner, proudly producing his mystery object.

They both leaned forward, eyes widening. "Is that..." began Kira.

"Those don't..." tried Ethan.

Conner's grin encompassed his entire face. "A Red Ranger action figure."

Kira held out her hand, and Conner handed over the toy. Ethan tilted his body at an awkward angle in order to peer under the table. "Dude?" said Conner.

The Blue Ranger straightened. "Just checking to see if there were any cooler colors under there. There weren't," he added to Kira.

Kira, on the other hand, was inspecting the action figure. "This thing has, like, a thirty-six pack."

"What?" said Conner. "I have abs!"

"Not like that you don't!" said Kira, tossing it back at him haphazardly. He dove across the floor to catch it, cradling it slightly in his hand.

"No human being has muscles like that, bro," agreed Ethan.

"You guys are just jealous," said Conner haughtily, pulling the toy a little closer to his chest than was normal for someone his age. He gazed down at it fondly. "And I shall call him...Mini-Me."

"Tired joke," said Ethan, shaking his head.

"I can actually feel my brain turning to goo," marveled Kira. She looked to Ethan. "Can we get back to that whole studying thing? I want to ensure my placement into a college that is far, far away from that psycho."

"You and me both," said Ethan, and the two of them returned to their studies once again. Conner lovingly propped his new friend on the arm of the couch before he joined them.


	18. PRDT: What's It All About?

**Title:** What's It All About? 

**Challenge:** Kira, romance, "Christmas is all about the mistletoe."

**Dedication:** Sarah

* * *

"Christmas is all about the mistletoe."

"Christmas, my foolish friend, is all about the presents."

Kira rolled her eyes as she watched her two best friends argue on the couch. "I seem to recall Christmas being something about a baby—"

"Don't start, Kira," Ethan interjected. He was the latter of the two speakers. Not to say that the both of them weren't materialistic in their own ways, but Ethan's version of selfishness was bordering on greed, whereas Conner's sin of choice was lust. Shopping for them this holiday season had been nothing short of hell, since Ethan wanted a state-of-the-art computer, and Conner wanted a harem of women. Neither of which was happening; at least, not from Kira's pocket.

"Speaking of presents—" said Conner.

"Were we?" asked Ethan.

"_You_ were," said Conner. "—I think it's time we opened them."

"Conner, we said we'd wait until Trent got here," said Kira patiently.

"Yeah, and he's a half hour late. I want presents."

"I thought it was all about the mistletoe, dude?" said Ethan with a smirk.

Conner looked away, and before anyone could comment further, Trent burst through the doors. "Sorry, sorry," he panted."Thecarbroke down."

"_Again_, dude? You gotta get that thing fixed."

"I just did get her fixed. What mechanic do you go to? I think it's time I switched, and the Mustang runs like a dream."

Conner jumped up, running over to the bar. "I'll write down their number for you," he said excitedly. "They're over on Beach Street..." Kira rolled her eyes. She'd been trying for ages to get Trent and Conner to bond, and it took cars. Boys.

She sat down next to Ethan on the couch, as they watched the others crowd together at the bar and babble about engines. She nudged Ethan's shoulder. "Thanks for being normal," she said.

But Ethan wasn't listening. "You know, guys, you should totally get Dr. O. to do it. He used to race, remember? He knows all about engines. Or Hayley. She did the Hovercraft all by herself, after all. I mean, you guys are failing to see what's in front of your own eyes—" He got up and joined them at the bar to discuss.

Kira groaned and fell back on the couch. "Spoke too soon," she mumbled. Still...she couldn't help smiling as she watched them. Ethan had said something that had both Conner and Trent cracking up, and Conner patted Trent's shoulder as emphasis to whatever point he was making.

The centerpiece on the table, a fluffy white snowman, began to dance to a tinny version of 'Jingle Bell Rock'. Kira screamed. The boys looked over. "You okay there, Kira?" asked Trent, concern on his face while a smirk played at Ethan's lips.

"That thing's freaky..." she said, wrenching her gaze away from it.

"Presents!" said Conner excitedly, bounding over Kira's legs to plop down on the couch next to her. Ethan took the other side, in his original seat, and Trent squeezed in at the end next to him. "Guys, move over. I'm falling off."

They obligingly squished over, and a too-abrupt motion from Ethan caused Kira to knock into Conner. She mouthed 'I'm sorry' at him, and he smiled easily, reaching into the bag on the floor next to him. "Here you go, guys," he said, passing the row of packages in bright red paper down to his friends. Trent's presents were wrapped in cheery snowmen and Santas, while Ethan's favored white snowflakes on a navy background, and Kira had gold and green shining stripes.

The room was alive with the sound of ripping paper for the next few moments, occasionally punctuated with exclamations. But as Kira got through Ethan's present —a cool yellow scarf— and Trent's —a drawing of the five Rangers and Hayley— and finished oohing and ahhing through them, she realized that she only had the two gifts. Perplexed, she glanced at Conner, who had just finished opening her present. In absence of a harem, she'd gotten him a hefty book on the Tyrannosaurus. "Since you're always bragging about how the T-rex is the greatest dinosaur of all time," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Kira, this is awesome," he proclaimed excitedly. He gave her a swift half-hug, something he hadn't done for the boys, but maybe that was because they were beyond his reach, and also because they were boys, and he would never hug them.

"Where's my present," she said teasingly, flushing slightly from his enthusiasm over her dorky gift. Conner was not a book guy, and yet she'd given him a book.

"Oh, that." His eyes widened slightly, and he glanced over her shoulder at Ethan and Trent, who were busy comparing something. "That's...it's in the car. C'mon, let's go get it." He stood up, and tugged at her sleeve until she followed suit.

"Shouldn't we say something?" she asked, as she followed him through the double doors.

"Nah, I got Ethe the PC version of Splatter Buster 3. He'll be occupied for awhile." He went outside, turned left, and headed towards the parking lot. Only the Mustang and Trent's station wagon were sitting there. Conner unlocked the door, pulled something out of the glove compartment, and kept the object behind his back as he turned to her. "There's sort of a condition with this present..." he hedged.

Kira frowned. "Huh?"

And suddenly he was leaning forward, cupping her face tentatively, and pressing his lips to hers in a sweet kiss. Kira didn't protest. The spontaneity had caught her off guard, but the delivery was excellent. He tasted like peppermint of the many, many candy canes he had consumed that afternoon.

When he pulled away, Kira blinked up at him. He looked...well, nervous. A little scared —he probably thought she was going to kill him— but it was more nerves than fear. He presented from behind his back her present: an envelope with a plant taped to the top. "Is that mistletoe?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to give this to you. Just...just open it."

She turned it over and slid open the envelope. Sitting inside were two Ani DiFranco tickets. "Conner, oh wow," she breathed. "This is incredible. Thank you."

"The condition," he said, and suddenly she remembered him mentioning it, "is that I get to go with you."

Kira met his brown eyes. "Conner, you hate 'chick music,'" she pointed out. "Minus mine."

"Yours isn't chick music," he assured her hastily. "And yeah, maybe I kinda do, but this is important to you, because I know you really love her, and I was hoping...well, I was kind of hoping this could be, like, you know, a date."

Kira had never in their friendship seen Conner stumbling over his words so badly, and while it was sort of funny, it was also oddly endearing. "Conner..." she began.

"I really like you," he said in a rush. "As more than friends. I mean, obviously, the kiss—" he mumbled, more to himself than to her, "—but I mean, I was hoping that we could give it...give us...a try. If you're okay with that." He was staring at her almost pleadingly.

She hadn't been so off base about the harem thing. Except she'd just overestimated with the numbers. He only wanted one girl, and it happened to be her. How could she have not seen this coming? Then she remembered the flirty smiles he always shot her, something she'd written off as natural Conner behavior, and the occasional touches, something she'd written off as extensive time spent together.

Had he asked her out a few months ago, she'd've said no, flat out. But she'd seen how much he'd grown, hence the reason for giving a book to a non-book-guy, and maybe this was an idea worth pursuing. If nothing else, she had great seats to Ani. "I think that's a great idea, Con," she said honestly. She tucked the tickets back in the envelope, plucked the sprig of mistletoe off, and waved it in his direction with a smile. "Christmas is all about the mistletoe, right?" she teased, and he grinned with obvious relief and joy, stepping closer and pausing just before he met her lips. "Merry Christmas, Kira."

"Merry Christmas, Conner," she answered, punctuating the statement with a holiday kiss.


	19. PRDT: Masks

Disclaimer: Not mine, just borrowing them. You know the drill.

Author's note: This used to be its own stand-alone, but it was too short, so I put it in here. This is my first PRDT fic ever. Originally published: 5/18/04)

* * *

"Halloween's coming," Conner said.

The three of them were sitting around their usual table at Hayley's after school. Ethan was staring into the pixilated abyss of his laptop, Kira scribbling erratically onto a legal pad, and Conner had been absently playing a game of one-man catch with his bocce ball. It was like this just about every afternoon after school, save for the days that they fought monsters for the fate of the world. Occasionally Doctor Oliver would come in between paper-grading and city-monitoring to impart his words of wisdom. These occurrences happened mostly on Kira's performance days, or for the sporadic five minute intervals where he came out of science-induced hibernation to score a cup of coffee. Hayley would take time out of her schedule manning the counter to greet the three teenagers, and Trent stopped by frequently in between bussing.

Ethan glanced up from his keyboard. "Just another excuse for you to stare at your reflection, huh, Conner?" he said cheerfully.

Although he was all too accustomed to Ethan's insults, veiled or otherwise, Conner was quick to fight back with, "At least I can look at myself without having to be all distorted by a computer screen."

"Oh, that was brutal, man," Ethan said.

"Conner, Ethan, play nice," Kira instructed, finally looking up.

"Sorry, dude," Conner said immediately, giving Ethan a head-tilt that was apparently supposed to display remorse. "Anyway, I was saying, Halloween's coming, I think we should do something."

"What, like, a party?" Kira asked.

"I was thinking we could go trick-or-treating."

Ethan and Kira shared a look, and attempted to stifle their laughter. "Conner, man, you do realize that you're seventeen, right?" Ethan said.

"That sounds more like something Ethan would suggest than you," Kira said.

Ethan turned to look at the girl of the group. "What do you mean, something I would say?"

"Well, you dress up for sci-fi conventions and stuff, right?"

"I've never been to a convention," Ethan defended himself.

"That would mean he'd have to leave his computer," Conner cracked.

"What do you wanna dress up for anyway, man?" Ethan said.

Conner shrugged. "Why not? This is probably the last year that we'll get a chance to, and it'd be fun, is all. We could all use some fun in our lives," he added pointedly.

Kira mulled this over, and shrugged. "Boy's got a point," she said. "A little fun never killed anyone."

Ethan lifted one shoulder in compliance. "Hey, I'm game. Got anything in mind, Con?"

"Actually, I _did_ have something in mind," Conner said with a wicked grin.

* * *

Later that afternoon, at the costume shop, the three students emerged from their respective dressing rooms and converged on the main floor.

"Oh, man, this fits great," Kira said, admiring the lines of her costume in one of the many full-length mirrors the costume shop boasted.

"I feel kind of stupid," Ethan said. "The helmet's a little bulky and oversized. I feel like a bobble head doll."

"Says the guy who never tried to stuff a foot of hair inside a helmet," Kira said.

"Shouldn't all that be padding, anyway?" Ethan asked.

"Are you implying that I fall down a lot?" Kira said, quirking an eyebrow.

"I wasn't, but you raise an excellent point."

"Though I'd much rather kick him than agree with him, Little Boy Blue here is right, I think we should go with the masks instead," said Kira, referring to the cheaper and ultimately less dramatic alternative of the plastic face masks.

"Well, I don't care about you guys, I think I look great," Conner said. Ethan and Kira exchanged 'big surprise there' faces.

"Devin, are you seeing this?" Cassidy Cornell said loudly, as she flounced in front of the mirror next to Conner's, dressed to the nines in an elaborate Snow White costume. "Get this on camera, it's going on the blooper reel, I think."

"I think you look okay, Cass--" Devin began, aiming the camera at Cassidy.

"Of course _I_ look okay, Devin, I meant those three!" she said, jerking her thumb in the direction of Conner, Ethan, and Kira. "I mean, how ridiculous do they look? Who dresses up like the Power Rangers for Halloween?" With an exaggerated eye roll and hair flip, Cassidy returned to the dressing rooms to change out of her costume. Devin shrugged at the three with an apologetic half-smile, and made himself scarce. But the trio didn't care, merely grinning at each other in their spandex uniforms in primary colors.

For some people, Halloween was all about being someone other than yourself. For Conner, Ethan, and Kira, Halloween was going to be about being who they truly were.


	20. PRDT: Close to Perfect

Disclaimer: you know I don't own PR or any of the characters of PRDT. 

A/N: I know they usually come in strips of four, but work with me here. (This used to be its own stand-alone, but it was too short, so I put it in here. Originally published: 6/23/04)

* * *

Going to the mall had been strictly Conner's idea. He had muttered something about wanting to get new cleats. Ethan had agreed to go, claiming to need a new computer part that he tried to explain to them, but they hadn't understood. Kira stated that she just wanted to be dropped off at the food court, sandwiched between Sbarro's and Cinnabon, and she'd be fine.

But after they'd all done their business, matters that hadn't taken more than half an hour, they convened again at Kira's claimed table in the court, helping themselves to her breadsticks so that she finished her lunch a lot more quickly than she'd intended.

"C'mon, let's wander," Conner said.

"And by 'wander', he means cruise for girls," Kira translated.

"Hey, I'm down for that," Ethan said. Kira merely rolled her eyes and set off with them.

They strolled at a leisurely pace, occasionally pointing at things in windows or laughing at something. It was a relaxed atmosphere, but not with all the familiarity and home of being at Hayley's. Here, they had no computers for Ethan to hide behind, no guitars for Kira. Here they were just three kids, in the ultimate of high school hangouts, experiencing the fact that these were three people that normally wouldn't be hanging out. This fact was evident by the looks they would get when they came across fellow classmates. If the three were at the Cyberspace, it could be assumed that they were working on a school project or something. If they were at the mall, it meant that hell had frozen over, and these three really were friends.

"Hey, guys, check it out, a photo booth," Kira said.

"As what? A potential monster?" Ethan said, going on high alert.

Kira smirked. "No, as a photo booth. C'mon, let's go take a seat."

But as she started towards it, she noticed that they weren't following her. "Oh, come on, guys. Show a little backbone. It's just a couple of photos."

"Yeah, Conner would probably wallpaper his room with pictures of himself, if he could," Ethan cracked.

"I resent that," Conner said, but he was the first to join Kira.

They scrambled inside the tiny contraption as best they could, but it wasn't really designed to hold more than a maximum of two at a time. So Kira shoved the two boys inside.

"Ow! Hey!" Ethan said. "Conner, could you possibly give me some breathing room?"

"Dude, take a chill," Conner said.

**Snapshot:** the two boys facing each other, mouths frozen forever in open arguing positions, with the slightest hint of smiles; Conner invading the shot more, but Ethan not falling back.

Smiling, Kira tugged Conner out of the booth so that she could take his place. She slung an arm around Ethan's shoulders. "Aw, Kira, I didn't know you cared!" he joked, and she giggled.

**Snapshot:** Ethan grinning widely, Kira leaning forward and laughing.

"Hey, hey, my turn!" Conner said, and Ethan clamored out of the booth as Kira slid over to take his place. The opening wasn't large enough for both boys to fit through, so Conner turned sideways to squeeze in, and tripped over Ethan's leg. He stumbled inside, and Kira, laughing slightly, reached over to help him.

**Snapshot:** Kira and Conner sharing a glance, smiling.

"Hey, group shot, group shot!" Ethan said, clamoring back in the booth. He raised his left forearm, with his bracelet. The other two followed suit.

**Snapshot:** three arms taking up most of the frame, hands curled into fists, with three blurry owners in the back. Skin darkening as it moves from left to right: a pale and shapely arm, a tanned and muscular arm, a thick cocoa-colored arm, all sporting identical silver bracelets with color-coded gems.

**Snapshot:** Kira and Conner on the bench, Ethan squatting in the middle in front of them. All three are crammed into the booth, leaning in together, touching in one way or another, and grinning broadly.

They got three copies and stuffed them in their bags. The impromptu photo shoot was never mentioned again in their many years together, but if you went into any of the teenagers' bedrooms, the small strips were prominently displayed. On Kira's vanity, tucked into her mirror at the corner. Taped to the side of Ethan's home PC monitor. Tacked to Conner's corkboard, next to his official varsity soccer team photo. Whenever anyone brought up the subject of the strips, the question was answered only with vague smiles and faraway expressions. The time frame of the photos was a series of ups and downs, but that one afternoon was close to perfect.


	21. PRDT: At First Sight

This one's an oldie, but I'd like to think it's a goodie. Challenge by Sarafu.

**Title:** At First Sight

**Character/Pairing:** Kira/Guitar

**Dialogue:** "Don't press your nose against the glass, Kira. It leaves smudges."

* * *

She had been nine when he'd left. Kylee had been eleven, full of worldly wisdom about how Kira would never see him again. Kira was old enough to know better, smart enough, but she refused to think that, and for a long time, had enthusiastically and optimistically believed that he would return.

He didn't.

She could remember walking along the streets with him one afternoon, passing the music store on Palm Street. The display had been set up in the large window, originally intended for models when the store had been a clothing boutique. But it was featuring a band set up, drum kit, keyboard, bass, and front and center, a beautiful guitar. A melted-butter yellow, with sleek curves that caught not only the spotlight featured on it, but every other fractured beam of light in the establishment.

"Don't press your nose against the glass, Kira. It leaves smudges."

Kira backed away obediently, but she didn't take her eyes off of it. "It's so pretty, Daddy."

"It's a Les Paul," he informed her. Any other six-year-old might have stumbled over the name, but she repeated it perfectly, reverently. That afternoon, he had hoisted his acoustic guitar out of the hall closet, sat her down, and showed her the chords. She was too clumsy to play very well, but her enthusiasm was enough to keep him pleased.

Off and on, she'd taught herself how in the years that followed. Too often he'd be busy to teach her, so she checked books out of the library, and studied the people on TV, and pretty soon she was surprisingly efficient.

Kira was especially bitter today because she had just turned fifteen that morning, it was her birthday, and her father had forgotten. She hadn't expected a present from him in some time, that would imply he was in some way reliable. But he usually had the presence of mind to send a card--or rather, his secretary did. But the mail had come, and the mail had gone, and there was nothing for Kira. Kylee and Kira had eaten cake with Mrs. Ford before retiring to the garage. Kylee was seventeen, jaded against the opposite sex for completely different reasons than Kira that day, and they penned a song about love walking out the door and screwing things up royally.

The door from the kitchen swung open. "Mom, don't interrupt practice," Kira said whiningly. She was usually very kind to her mother, they were all each other had, but Kira took her music very seriously.

"I thought you should come see this," Mrs. Ford said, her tone oddly faraway, mystic almost. Kira immediately set down her guitar and followed Mrs. Ford up into the kitchen, Kylee at her heels.

"It just came," Mrs. Ford said, but Kira only barely heard the statement, her hands already on the neck of it, picking it up, balancing the weight in her arms. The color exactly matched the yellow t-shirt she'd thrown on that morning, matched the late afternoon sun streaming in through the windows.

"Do you know how to play electric?" asked Kylee, her voice sounding as though she was still in the garage. Somewhere else.

Kira thought vaguely of the bank in her room, crayon-shaped, stuffed with scraps of her allowance, loose change she'd picked up off the street, wadded together and pressed down to make more room, waiting for the day when she could go into the store that she passed every day on the way to school and finally collect it for her own. And now here it was, hefty in her hands, real, solid weight, but at the same time, lighter than air, as light as her own heart, the same sunshine as in her smile.


	22. PRDT: Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me. This one's about a year old.

* * *

Sunday morning, and Conner was seated at his kitchen table, head and upper chest resting on the cool wooden surface, the comics inches from his face.

"How can you read like that?" asked Kira distastefully, coming in. She immediately situated herself in front of the fridge and opened the freezer.

"Who says I'm reading," said Conner, his voice muffled from the side of his mouth being stuck to the table. "August in California, hot. Table, not as hot."

"Stand in front of the freezer," said Kira, demonstrating the benefits of this practice.

"Too far away," Conner complained.

"God, you're a whiner," she said. But she removed a package of frozen broccoli and applied it to the back of his exposed neck. He jumped sharply, then relaxed. "Ooh, that feels good," he said. "Thanks."

"No problem." She took out her own frozen vegetable package and sat across from him. "Since when do you eat carrots?" she asked, surveying the label of her package.

He shrugged one shoulder. "On sale."

"While I commend your frugal shopping, you sort of kill the concept by buying the first thing you see. You and I both know you'll never eat these."

"But I _am_ getting use out of them, aren't I?" he returned, lifting his head just enough so that she received the full weight of one of his sardonic smiles.

"Touché." She smiled at him affectionately, reaching across the table to wipe a sweaty clump of hair out of his face. "When are you going to cut your hair?"

"Cut my hair?" he echoed, the statement alarming enough to get him to sit up straight. "_Why_?"

"It's getting long," she said.

"It's always been long. And as I recall, you've never cared before."

She went to touch the sweat-dampened locks once more. "No, I guess I haven't." She settled back, apparently deciding to drop the subject. The broccoli was beginning to thaw, sending rivulets of condensation coursing down the back of his neck and sliding beneath his t-shirt. "God, it's hot."

He grinned, the trademark Conner McKnight smile that only he could pull off. "You could take something off. You know, it's getting hot in here...so take off all your clothes."

"Ew, you so did not just quote Nelly at me."

"_Ew_," he said mockingly, "you so did not just recognize Nelly lyrics at me."

She hit him with the frozen carrots, which was both cool but painful. "Ow."

"You deserved it."

"Seriously, though, I think I'm just gonna take off my clothes and pass out on the couch."

"Was that an invitation or a threat?"

"Which would you like it to be?" he said, unable to keep the flirtatious note out of his tone. The icy water trailing down his back was a welcome counteraction to the smoldering glances exchanged between the two.

Kira raised her eyebrows just a hint as she contemplated this. She weighed the frozen bag of carrots in her hand, studying it. She smiled.


	23. PRDT: In the End

This was a series of 100-word drabbles for dt100 at livejournal. The prompt was Jimi Hendrix song titles; it's five point of views from Conner, Ethan, Kira, Trent, and Hayley. No one belongs to me.

* * *

**Burning of the Midnight Lamp**

He's been awake for who knows how long. There have been sunrises and sunsets, oranges and pinks, rising and falling and flushing over his walls, but he hasn't seen them. He's seen his ceiling, and he's seen the backs of his eyelids, and he's seen his own pain in bright, vivid colors.

The color red is so interesting, symbolizing anger and passion and blood, so much blood... Blood is birth, and death, and never-ending.

He hasn't slept for five days. He hasn't moved for five days; has ignored phones and doorbells. Wishing more than anything that it had been him.

* * *

**Are You Experienced?**

He replays it in his mind, over and over again. Dr. O fighting, cut off from the rest of the group. A panting Conner insisting that it was fine. And the troop from the trees that none of them had seen.

There was a swarm of monsters, and the flash of a demorph, and blood trickling and Trent swearing and Kira screaming. Conner fighting frantically, completely outnumbered.

An ambulance.

Cover stories that made no sense.

Conner's arm was practically torn off his shoulder.

Dr. O was unconscious.

The monitor beeping, and then the monitor wailing, and then there was nothing.

* * *

**My Friend**

She has never worn black without some accent of yellow somewhere on her body, but yellow means something cheerful. She hasn't been cheerful for days.

There are a bunch of other people there, people she thinks she recognizes, but knows she hasn't met. Everyone is saddened, but no one is surprised. Everyone throws flowers onto the gleaming black casket, and they file away until only four are left.

Kira fiddles with a loose thread in her dress.

Ethan cracks one bad joke after another, all of which are ignored.

Hayley sits there, stone-like.

Trent is weeping.

Conner is not there.

* * *

**Changes**

The father is gone, and the oldest son is fading. The family is falling to pieces one by one, skin stretching and tendons ripping and surgery just barely holding it together. The arm is faded and useless, no longer an instrument to hold and comfort and love, but a thing that couldn't protect. Dull and hanging limply to the side. There is nothing for it to wrap around anymore. There is no family to inherit, no brothers and sisters to keep safe, no mother to care for into the night.

The father and the son are now the holy ghosts.

* * *

**Red House**

She isn't the one who brought them together. He's gone. He's gone, but the rest of them remain, and even if she isn't the one that brought them together, then she is going to be the one to keep them together, damn it.

"It's an intervention," she announces. "Not just for Conner, but for all of us. Get it together."

They get it together. They knock on the door, not just one by one like they've done for the past four days, but all together, assembled as it should be, a group once more.

The gunshot brings them apart forever.


	24. PRDT: Three Wishes

No challenge. Disclaimer: Power Rangers property of Disney; making no profit off of this; etc., etc.

* * *

"Three wishes," said Conner.

"What?" asked Ethan, looking up from his spot on the floor. The four teens were sprawled across the ample Mercer TV room, staring blankly at one of the videos they'd rented. It had taken a full forty-seven minutes, Ethan had timed it just to be annoying, for them to decide on anything. Their tastes were so varying. Conner liked brainless comedies and inspirational sports films, Ethan liked anything and everything sci-fi, Kira had a guilty pleasure for Disney animated films, and Trent liked romantic comedies. They had mocked him relentlessly for that, Kira in particular, but he'd quietly confessed that he just liked to see happy endings.

In the end, they'd agreed on _Toy Story_, but although it was one they'd all seen and all liked, there was a palpable unrest in the air, one that was heavy enough to prompt them to pause the film and study Conner.

From the armchair, he said, "If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?"

"More wishes," said Ethan instantly.

"That's cheating, Ethe," said Kira from the couch, kicking out her foot to nudge him in the ribs.

"Hey! Watch yourself," he muttered, rubbing at the mark and scooting farther away.

On the other side of the couch, Trent looked across the room to meet Conner's gaze. "Anything?" he asked.

"Anything," the boy in the track pants confirmed. "Be honest."

They all lapsed into silence, mulling over the question.

"I would wish to be guaranteed success in my career," said Kira, the first to break the quiet. They all looked at her, and she stared at her lap under their scrutiny. "I'm not saying I want to be the next big thing, I just want to know that I'll be able to live comfortably, without concern. The music industry is so hard to break into, I just get scared of what's going to happen to me."

Trent reached over, taking one of her hands and squeezing it with a serene smile. The sides of her mouth curved up in a hesitant not-quite smile, still clearly lost in thought.

"Man, are we doing serious wishes?" said Ethan. "I thought we were doing like, lifetime supply of pie wishes."

"We're being honest," said Conner with a shrug and a grin. "Dude, you want a lifetime supply of pie, you wish for it."

"I don't. It was an example. I wouldn't mind a lifetime supply of Twinkies..."

"Those things have no nutritional value," said Conner. "It's like, flavored air or something."

"Whatever. I like the taste."

"What about you, judgmental boy?" said Kira.

Conner flashed his trademark grin. "Easy. Harem."

Kira groaned, and Ethan and Trent laughed. Conner nodded at Trent. "Your turn, dude."

"My parents back," the boy said immediately. "I love my dad, but he's not my dad."

This time it was Kira who touched him reassuringly, and Conner said, "Well, damn. If you guys are going to be all serious..." They looked over expectantly, and he shrugged. "I want my family back. I wish my brother and I got along better, and I wish that my parents never got divorced, and my dad never moved to Blue Bay Harbor. I wish things were the way they used to be."

They stared. The way Conner always talked about the situation, he never seemed to mind it much. He blinked. "Well, you said be honest, right?" He shocked them further by blushing slightly and looking to Ethan. "You need a serious one, too."

"What if being honest means that I don't have a serious one?" said Ethan evenly.

"Oh, come on," said Trent and Conner in chorus.

"Guys, leave him alone," said Kira sharply.

"Oh, hey, they're right," admitted Ethan. "I mean, if Conner can have his big, teary moment-"

"Hey!" said Conner, offended.

"-then I might as well. Second wish? I wish that I'd been the Red Ranger. I wish that someone actually paid attention to my efforts."

"They did," said Trent.

"No, they didn't," he disagreed calmly. "And they never will, anymore. But whatever. Kira? Number two?"

"To be totally greedy, I'd love a studio, filled with everything I could ever possibly want or need to just go nuts and make sounds for ages."

They nodded in understanding.

"I wish I could sell a painting," said Trent. "I know I did the whole comic thing, and that was cool, but I'd like to expand my art beyond the whole superhero realm. I'd love that." He smirked. "Or a lifetime supply of pudding."

"Last one," said Conner. "Any takers?"

The four sat in silence for a long time, contemplating. "No one's going to wish for a billion dollars or anything?" said Conner.

"I wish I could get to test every new video game that came out," said Ethan in a dreamy voice. They rolled their eyes at this.

"What about you, Con?" said Kira. "Billion dollars? Yours for the taking..."

He shook his head. "I know the third thing I want. I want to be bigger than Beckham. I want to bring US soccer to the world's attention, I want to be the absolute best."

"I wish my father gets a happy ending," said Trent.

"Even if that means he's sleeping with the principal?" said Ethan distastefully.

Trent winced, then shrugged, then grinned. "It could be worse, I guess. The guy needs it, I'm just saying."

"You don't wish you'd done it differently?" said Conner, and his tone was tight.

Trent met his gaze without trepidation. "I thought we were done with this."

"Conner, let it go," said Kira in a pained voice.

He glared for a moment longer, then his posture and expression relaxed. "I'm sorry." To their surprise -the boy was just full of them tonight- he actually sounded sincere. He leaned forward in the chair, trying to close the distance between the group. "Okay, I lied. I don't want the harem. Well, okay, yeah I do. But I wish that that last battle had gone differently. I wish that I hadn't had to destroy the Zords, I wish that I still had my powers, that we were still the Rangers."

"We're still the Rangers," said Kira softly. "That won't change." She sighed. "I wish we're still friends in five years. Ten years. For the rest of our lives."

That officially killed it. They all settled back into stupor once again, filled with regret for something that had never even happened.

"Of course," said Conner, with forced casualness.

"We have to be," said Trent.

"We will," said Ethan, picking up the remote, and starting the movie again. As Buzz and Woody overcame obstacles to become friends, the symbolism wasn't lost on the teens, and the lightweight message of the film gave way to the heavy feeling settling over them. Eventually they all moved to the couch, squeezing in together, Kira's head on Trent's shoulder, Conner and Ethan squabbling over the remaining space. As they came across their favorite parts of the film --the aliens; drunken, one-armed Buzz-- they lightened up considerably, and were cheerful enough at the end of the film to insist that Trent put in _Toy Story 2_. Maybe they had forever, maybe they didn't. But they had tonight.


	25. PRDT: Hats Off to You

No challenge. Disclaimer: Power Rangers property of Disney; making no profit off of this; etc., etc.

* * *

Ethan was laughing so hard that breath seemed impossible. "What bet..." he wheezed, "did you lose...to wear that...stupid thing?"

If looks could kill, Ethan would be dead, buried, resurrected in a weird pagan ceremony, and then beheaded (Conner was pretty sure that was the only way you could kill a zombie) and left to rot. "Drop it now, or I'll drop you."

Ethan reached up a hand to stroke the pink fur on the rabbit ears Conner was wearing, but the Red Ranger slapped his hand away before he got the chance. Ethan was overcome with another bout of giggles.

"You are a horrible person," Conner informed him sourly.

Ethan only made a quacking sort of sound in reply. Conner plotted his best friend's imminent death in his mind, and was just getting to the dismemberment when the cause of his agony waltzed into the Cyberspace like nothing was wrong.

"Happy Halloween, guys," Kira said cheerfully, sitting down in her usual seat. "Conner, you look different. Did you get a haircut?"

Ethan almost choked on his smoothie. Conner wondered how much two coffins would cost. "Ha ha."

"Oh, cheer up, Conner. It's just one night out of the year."

"What I don't get is your obsessive need to dress me up in silly hats every time I lose a bet. The sombrero, the fez, the pith helmet, the jester's cap, the 'Kiss Me - I'm Irish' hat..."

"You liked that one."

"It's just weird, is all."

"You know what's weird," said Ethan. Conner sighed dramatically and started to rev up the death glare again, but it went unnoticed. "It's weird how despite constantly losing, and constantly being humiliated, he keeps agreeing to these stupid bets."

"Conner," Kira offered helpfully, "is not very smart."

Conner tried to think of a happy place to go to. A place where he could drive all day, listening to good tunes, preferably with a half-naked harem sprawled out in his backseat. That should be okay. Maybe they'd go to the Playboy mansion. And have a barbeque. Yeah, it was beginning to sound pretty good.

"So what did he lose this time?" asked Ethan, intent on stretching Conner's misery to its very bounds.

"Well, he bet me that he could go three days without saying 'dude.'"

The stare Ethan now fixed on Conner was akin to the look he'd had on his face when he discovered he couldn't use his superpowers to pass gym. "Did you get dropped on your head or something as a kid, Conner? For you, 'dude' is like air. You need it to live. I think you said it six times since I sat down."

"I know, right?" said Kira blithely, and Conner concentrated on how many times he could clench and unclench his fingers into a fist before developing a cramp. The number had increased since the last time he performed this semi-zen exercise. Which, he realized, was the last time he had lost a bet to Kira. "I even was generous enough so that he couldn't say 'dude' in my presence. That was more selfish than anything else, though."

"You mean you didn't want to tail him for three days and sleep on his bedroom floor?" said Ethan. "You know, his mom's a pretty decent cook. And I'm pretty sure she would have appreciated the intervention."

"You know, guys," said Conner, "I'm sitting right here."

"Sure you are, Peter Cottontail," said Ethan dismissively. "So when did the deal-breaking D-word take place, if not in his humble abode?" The question was, of course, directed at Kira. It was clear Ethan could care less what Conner said, only what Conner did, as retold by the devil reincarnated in Kira.

"English class yesterday afternoon. When he said," here, Kira dropped her voice to a growly bass that sounded absolutely nothing like him, "'Dude, Mrs. Alemino, I don't get what's up with this Mr. Rochester dude.'"

Ethan guffawed, slamming his fist against the table so hard that an orange jostled loose from the fruit bowl on the counter and rolled to the floor.

"You're paying for that," Hayley's voice called out from the beyond. The woman had superpowers of her own.

Stupid Jane Eyre, Conner thought mutinously. That book had gotten him into more situations this week than he would have ever imagined possible.

"That does it," rasped Ethan, "I'm transferring into your guys' English class."

"Dude, Jane Eyre is, like, half Mr. Rochester's age," Conner defended himself. "It's freaking creepy." He realized he was doing nothing to help his case when his friends started cracking up again.

Hayley finally emerged from the back room, not even bothering to look up from the sheaf of papers in hand as she greeted the group. "Nice ears, Conner. Lose another bet?"


	26. PRDT: Sweet Addiction

Disclaimer: No one mentioned belongs to me.  
Author's note: semi-sequel to Burn to Shine

* * *

"G'mrnen," Conner mumbled, stumbling into the kitchen.

Hayley smirked with cruel delight. "Busy night?"

"Coffee," was all he managed to bark out. Not so much a request, or even a desire for information as to coffee's whereabouts, but a sharp, primal lust for the one thing that could fill the void in his soul.

Hayley, serene, sipped her tea. "You should really cut back, caffeine boy. It'll stunt your growth."

"I'm taller than you." He rooted noisily in the cabinet for filters. His ability to banter seemed to stem solely from the imminent feeding of his addiction.

"Stain your teeth."

"Got some whitening toothpaste." He scooped heaping spoonfuls of grounds into the bin and poured water in the back. The ratio seemed disproportionate, given the small size of the coffee maker.

"You should drink juice. Juice is better for you. Made from nice, all natural fruit."

"Coffee helps stave off cancer, you know. Or heart disease. Diabetes." He shrugged, flicking the switch on the machine. "One of those. Whatever, you're just trying to drum up business for your juice bar."

Hayley just smiled enigmatically, the Mona Lisa of WiFi hot spots.

"Besides," he said, sinking onto the stool next to hers. He frowned, wiggling, because of course she'd taken the good one and left the one with the deformed leg. "It's not like I'm not there all the time, anyway."

"Well yes, but that's really for my stellar company than anything else—would you stop looking over at the coffee maker?"

"What? Sorry."

"That's sad, Conner."

He made a face. "I don't like mornings. They make you... get up."

"You get up for soccer."

"That's soccer."

"I see. So basically, you don't like getting up for things like school or work or anything that might be useful or make you a productive member of society."

Conner was back to staring almost lovingly at his slow drip. "Pretty much," he mumbled.

Hayley shook her head ruefully and took another soothing swig of hot, fragrant tea. She should be grateful she was getting conversation out of him at all. Conner was to mornings as a hippo was to ballet; it was an amusing combination, bordering on dangerous, but ultimately, he was inadaptable and one shouldn't bother trying. If he had to be placated with Colombian roast, so be it.

Still, "I worry that you love Juan Valdez more than me."

"Aw, baby, no." He lay his hand over hers, but Hayley whipped from her arsenal the neat eyebrow arch of doom. It was a gesture she'd practiced to perfection back in college, to counter some of Tommy's more ridiculous statements. It worked just as well on Conner, who backpedaled with an anxious, "Sweetie?" Simple maintenance of the doom brow was all she needed. Conner huffed in defeat and dropped her hand. "Hales?" Hayley generously smoothed her forehead of accusing wrinkles. "Anyway, I do not love you more than coffee. How could I? Coffee is what brought us together, after all. Although. Actually. That's a very convincing argument towards the wonders of the bean."

Hayley groaned.

"What? What'd I say?" Conner called plaintively as she got up and placed her mug in the sink. Further protests got lost in the penultimate gurgle of the finished coffee, and it was the equivalent of someone waving a shiny object in Conner's face. He was gone.

"Oh brother," Hayley muttered, more for her benefit than his. Conner had all but bounced over to the machine, using up the last recesses of his energy before they were artificially replenished. The rest of the world might as well not exist in the wake of his bitter brown tunnel vision. Still, she felt compelled to double back and plant a kiss on his cheek, more out of pity than anything else.

He reached for a mug with one hand, squeezed her fingers with the other. He even went so far as to offer her a sincere, albeit tired, smile. "Love ya," he threw out casually.

"More than coffee?"

This time, his grin was wholly cocky. "Maybe."

The burst of laughter coming from her was largely derisive, although there was some genuine affection mixed in. "Charming."

"You know me." He held the pot with great care, transferring the coffee to his mug with nary a blasphemous splash.

"All too well. I'll catch you at the Cyberspace later," she called over her shoulder. "Don't forget to turn it off before you leave."

As she gathered up her purse and fumbled for her keys, she heard Conner's fond murmurs, "Don't listen to them, baby. I won't ever let anyone separate us."


	27. PRDT: Home Repairs

NEW: Anyone paying attention might notice that this "story" was previously known as "Shorts" (and before that, "One At A Time"), and housed ficlets from various seasons of Power Rangers. For clarity's sake, I decided to break up all these ficlets and house different archives by season. "Protectors of the Right" is for Dino Thunder.

Questions, comments, concerns, and even requests can be sent to me at NeoVenus22 at .

* * *

Disclaimer: No one mentioned belongs to me.

* * *

Gasping for breath from her unsuccessful attempt to dart between the raindrops, Kira ducked inside her apartment building and dropped her sopping umbrella in the stand. She wondered why rain always made her want to take a shower, as if she wasn't wet enough already. She figured Conner was probably home by now, and if she knew him at all, likely hogging the shower.

Kira jammed her key into the lock and did her usual twist-jimmy-twist combo, the only thing that would get the stupid thing open. Conner had voted for just keeping the door unlocked, but mellow and crime-free though this neighborhood was, Kira had no particular desire to have her guitars or herself spirited away in the night.

Inside, she was immediately greeted by a weird _ping ping ping_ sound. The source was easy enough to locate, because there was a bucket and two cereal bowls sitting in the middle of her living room, sloshing water about with every drop that seemed to be falling... from the ceiling.

"Conner!"

Her boyfriend's head popped from the doorway to the bathroom. "Oh, hey, you're home. How was your day?"

"_Moist_," she said archly, then gestured at the unpleasant-looking brown streak on her ceiling. "What's going on?"

"Yeah..." Conner frowned and came out of the bathroom fully. "We, uh..."

"Have a leak?" she supplied.

"Four." Kira's mouth dropped open. "That I could find. Just in here and the bathroom, though." Conner gave her his patented sad eyes, which got him out of trouble only about half of the time, depending on how magnanimous Kira was feeling.

It worked today. She figured it probably wasn't Conner's fault if the roof was leaking. Well, probably. Who knew what he did in the hours she wasn't there to supervise.

"I moved your guitar into the closet," he said, looking proud of himself.

"Have you called the landlord?"

"Um..." Conner's please smile slowly dropped into an expression of chagrin. "Uh, no."

"Conner."

"I moved your guitar..!" Conner made a second attempt at what was a decidedly feeble smile.

Kira swallowed a sigh and fumbled for her phone; she'd put the landlord's number in her cell after last winter's furnace debacle. It rang once, twice, three times, five, seven, and finally gifted Kira with a very unsatisfying voicemail message. "He's visiting his sister for the holidays."

"Oh crap," said Conner, his words punctuated by a fat droplet splashing in the bathroom behind him. "Okay, I'm calling Ethan."

"Is Ethan a roofer or a plumber or anything useful?"

"Well, no." Conner shrugged. "But he's Ethan, you know? He's, like, a genius. He'll figure something out."

Kira had a lot of faith in Ethan's genius, but somehow doubted that even that extended to the problem at hand. Still, she figured they had nothing left to lose at this point. They couldn't possibly be the only people to ever have had a problem with leaks, maybe Ethan had a solution or knew someone who did. Couldn't hurt, right?

Of course, her goodwill gave out when Ethan showed up half an hour later, clutching a bottle of champagne and followed by an entourage of friends that Kira only barely recognized.

"Are you going to use the cork to mop up the leaks?" asked Kira dubiously, eying the champagne while one of Ethan's associates made way to 'the stereo, bro'.

"No, we're throwing a flood party," said Ethan. "I can't believe you guys didn't think of that yourselves."

"Not everyone's first reaction to a crisis is to throw a party." A nice pounding bass from the stereo accompanied her words.

"Once upon a time, I bet that would've been Conner's solution. But, _no_, he's too busy being all domestic and crap." Ethan made a face. "You have him so whipped, Kira."

"Do not." Conner, for all of his weirdness, was largely untamable in her mind, always too much potential and not enough follow-through. Or maybe she was just pissed because she thought she felt a draft. And she hated this song.

"Do too. Old Conner would've found the leak, left the apartment, and waited for you to come back and 'find' it so it would be your responsibility."

"Old Conner never would've noticed the ceiling was leaking," she joked, but even as she said it, she realized Ethan had a point. There was Conner, and there was Old Conner, and there was a distinct difference between the two. Somewhere along the way, he'd matured. Not much, if his neglecting to even think about calling the landlord was any indication, but a little bit was better than none at all, right?

Ethan watched her, seeming to understand her exact thought process. Then he smiled. "Bubbly?"

Kira shrugged and took the bottle. There were lots of ways to manage a crisis.

She popped the cork in the kitchen, thinking that the music at least drowned out the constant pinging of the leaks, and poured glasses for herself and Conner. She was about to bring them out when Conner joined her, looking remorseful. "I'm sorry about the ceiling."

Kira leaned against him, letting him put an arm around her waist. He was familiarly solid against her back, and in a weird way, it made her think that this was just a minor problem after all, one they could easily get through. "It's not your fault," she said.

"I'm sorry about those guys."

"They're Ethan's fault." She glanced into the living room, where Ethan's roommate Pete was doing a Mexican hat dance of sorts around one of the re-purposed cereal bowls, while the others chanted. "But they aren't so bad. And this could be fun."

"Who are you and what have you done with Kira?" he teased.

Kira glanced up at him. "Who are you and what have you done with Conner?"

"I'm all me, babe, still and always."

Kira reached around her back and pinched his side with her free hand. "Don't call me babe."

"Ah, there's my girl."

"You're such an idiot sometimes, Conner."

"But you love me anyway," he said.

Kira rolled her eyes, but she meant it in a nice way. "Yeah, I do."

And then a big fat drop fell splashed into her glass.


	28. PRDT: The Rules of the Road

Disclaimer: No one mentioned belongs to me. For Darkchilde.

* * *

"Do we really have to do this, Kira?" said Conner.

Kira rolled her eyes, not that he saw the gesture, too busy focusing on the road. "You're being a baby."

"Am not."

"Yes, you are. They're not going to trash your car, you know."

Conner wasn't so sure about that. His car was gorgeous. All of his classmates would've loved to get their hands on it, and now he was paying them for the opportunity to do so, all in the name of some Valentine's Day breast cancer awareness charity car wash that Dr. O had organized.

Between this and making him fight monsters all the time, Conner was beginning to wonder if the science teacher had it out for him.

"They'll get fingerprints all over her," he said, trying to make her understand.

"Oh brother. Touch," she said, pressing the tip of one extended finger against the dashboard. And then doing it again a few more times. "Touch touch touch touch touch."

"Now who's being childish?" he threw at her.

"I didn't say you were being childish. I said you were being a baby. Besides," she said, leaning forward a bit and using that tone of voice that she only brought out when she was appealing to his ego (although he wished she'd worn a more low-cut top; if she was going to appeal to his ego, she might as well appeal to his hormones while she was at it), "you're the big man on campus, aren't you? You have to go, because if the mighty Conner McKnight sacrifices his precious baby on the altar of charity, then everyone will do it."

Kira, for all of her many faults (such as nagging him, swatting him, calling him a chauvinistic pig, and not wearing low-cut tops), was unfortunately right in this scenario. Not that Conner would ever admit it, because give her an inch and she'd take a mile.

"I'm doing this for Dr. O," he said, changing the subject, "since he organized the whole thing. Did you know he used to do this kind of crap all the time when he was our age? I had Ethe perform his geeky magic and look him up. There was always some charity thing, or he was joining a club or something. His high school transcript sounds like he made it up. Did you know he played football?"

"I've always dreamed of the day when I'd have so many jock friends," said Kira. "My life is complete."

"Hey, be nice to jocks or you're walking."

"You wouldn't make me walk," she scoffed.

"Wouldn't I? I could let you out here, turn around, go home, and never have the chess club touch my girl."

"Me or the car?"

"I thought you said I wasn't allowed to call you that. Something about overly possessive blah, objectification blah blah blah."

"Yes, but I'm just checking to make sure your have your priorities in order. Besides, you need to remember who you came with, so you won't be horrifically distracted by cheerleaders in bikini tops."

"You didn't say anything about cheerleaders or bikinis," said Conner.

She slapped his arm. "Don't sound so excited."

"No hitting the driver! I swear, it's like you didn't even pay attention when I read you the Commandments."

"I didn't. Because no one in the world has commandments for riding in their car."

"I do."

"Because you're crazy."

"Yeah, but you love me anyway, right?"

Kira smiled to herself. "Sometimes. You know. When you've earned it."

"Does donating my car and my time to a charity count as earning it?"

Kira took so long answering him that Conner dared to look at her, and found a cheek-aimed kiss landing on his lips. "Yes, you've earned it."

Conner pulled into the Reefside High parking lot.


	29. PRDT: Hairy Scary

Disclaimer: No one mentioned belongs to me.

* * *

If Hayley had been the type of person who slept, she might've been pissed about someone knocking at her door at 2:53 in the morning. As it was, she was grateful for the distraction.

Tommy Oliver stood in her doorway, his hands in his pockets, his eyes slightly bloodshot, and his mouth and jaw area unquestionably sporting a thick, almost heart-shaped forest of hair. Hayley was semi-sleep-deprived, so she was not as good with reaction time as she might otherwise have been, and her hand did in fact fly to her mouth to assist in stifling laughter, but too late. The snorting guffaw made its way out before she could stop it.

"What?"

"'What' is a very good question. As in, 'What exactly is that?' And, 'What were you thinking?'"

"I..." Tommy's finger lifted to pet its way over the stripe of hair on his upper lip, like soothing a caterpillar. "Oh, this?"

"Yes, _that_."

"I'm growing a beard."

"I'm sure you think you are," she said.

He blinked at her, genuinely confused. "What, you don't like it?"

"It's..." He looked sort of ridiculous. Not sort of, completely. "...interesting."

"I thought it looked cool," said Tommy, somewhat sadly.

Men rarely knew what was good for them, Hayley reflected, in fashion or in any other capacity. Tommy was no exception. "I'm guessing you didn't come here just to show me your choice of facial hair?" she said, hoping the real purpose of his visit would reveal itself and save her from talking about whatever was on Tommy's face. She could be diplomatic as hell when the situation warranted, but she felt this might be pushing her limits somewhat.

"No, my computer crashed. I've got a paper due, and I could seriously use your help..."

Oh, he was about to give her the sad eyes. She hated the sad eyes. "And you couldn't just call?"

"You might've been asleep."

"Right, because pounding on someone's door at three in the morning won't wake them up at all."

"I'll give you twenty bucks."

"And here Mom thought I'd never make any money off my computer skills. All right, I'll take a look." She kicked off her slippers, jammed her feet into the sneakers, and grabbed her room keys from the room by the door.

"Thanks, Hales, you're a lifesaver."

"You know, Tommy, someday you're going to have to learn how to do things without my help."

"As if I'd ever want to." Tommy grinned at her. It was incredibly distracting "Besides, you wouldn't let me."

"Because I'm so very intelligent?"

"Because you're a mothering control freak."

"Oh, and to think we made it all the way to your door before you shot your mouth off." She patted his shoulder. "When you're living in a box on the street, because you didn't finish this paper and ended up flunking out of college, I hope you look back and remember the moment where you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

"Aw, man. C'mon, Hales, you know I didn't mean it like that. You know I couldn't do anything without you anyway." He gave her a terribly pathetic look. It was one that she was sure he must've practiced on weak-willed women in the past. It probably would've worked on her, too, if not for the fact that she knew Tommy. The scruffy beard helped a lot, too. "Please?"

"Oh, all right. How bad can it be?"

As it turned out, it was bad. Hayley had been expecting to spend no more than twenty minutes there before she got to go home, but Tommy had screwed something up royally.

"Have you been downloading porn or something?" she sighed, brushing her bangs out of her tired eyes.

"How about I don't answer that and up your fee? Throw in an extra ten."

"I've been here an hour, Tommy. I'm tired and I have a class in the morning."

"Thirty bucks and a smoothie."

Hayley spun the chair around. "Thirty bucks, a smoothie, and you shave the beard."

"I'm not shaving the beard."

"Do you want me to recover your paper?"

"The beard is cool!"

"Tommy, I say this as someone who cares about you. No, the beard is not cool. It will never be cool. I'm doing you a favor with this one, trust me."

"Remember the part where I said you were a mothering control freak?"

Hayley slammed her hands down on the top of the desk. "All right, I'm leaving."

"Okay, okay, okay!" he said, looking a little desperate. "Thirty, a smoothie, and I'll... I mean, do I have to shave the _whole_ thing?"

There was something about his whine that gave her pause. She could easily recall the first time she'd met Tommy Oliver, at some off-campus mixer. He'd been a sad-eyed kid with a ponytail, looking pretty high school. She'd thought he was younger than he actually was. The beard made him look stupid, but it did make him look older. "Tell you what," she said, gracing him with a critical eye. "You have to lose the mustache. But you can work from there."

"All right."

"I'm serious, Oliver. If you don't, I'll do it for you." She stared him down. "While you sleep."

Tommy sighed. "All right. Whatever you want, Hayley."

Her triumph was tired, but genuine. "As always."

Tommy's paper was recovered and his computer was fixed within the hour. Over the course of the week, she had to do similar favors for other, lesser associates who didn't compensate nearly as well, so she and Tommy remained off each other's radar for a few days. Until he showed up on her doorstep, one hand in his pocket, the other clutching a sizable smoothie, and his jaw sporting a stripe that was miniscule in comparison to the beast living there previously. Hayley took a suck on her straw and eyed him. "Much better."

"You think?"

"Oh, absolutely. Much improved."

"Did I tell you I got a B?"

"Let me guess, next time you're going to want me to write the paper for you in addition to everything else."

"No way," he said. "There's only so much I can shave."

Hayley laughed, almost choking on her half-mouthful of raspberry-mango smoothie. "Too much information," she said, and shut the door in his newly shorn face.


	30. PRDT: Red With Envy

Disclaimer: No one mentioned belongs to me.  
Spoilers: 15x20-15x21, 'Once A Ranger'

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait," said Conner, holding up his hand to steady the flow of words that Kira was not actually speaking. "_Wait_. They wear _capes_?"

"Way to not focus on the point of the story, Conner," she said, rolling her eyes. Although this was pretty much exactly what she'd been expecting from him.

"Right, right, you all got your powers back, made a new team, saved the day," he said dismissively. "But seriously. Capes?" He made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a giggle. "I mean, wizards? With capes? Like some kind of... justice magicians." Yep, that was definitely a giggle.

While she didn't disagree on the wardrobe matter, Kira did feel a pang of defensiveness. They might not have been her original team, but they were still her team. They'd worked and lived and fought together for weeks, and had become her family in the way that only a team of Rangers could. It was one thing for her to make cape jokes. It was another for Conner to do it. "Yeah," she said casually, "it's a little silly. But Xander really pulled it off. I mean, there are some people that can just pull off any look, you know?"

"Oh, come on."

"He's a handsome guy, you know?" she continued mercilessly. "Well-built. Nice hair. Absolutely _killer_ smile. And that accent? Trust me, it's like you barely even notice the cape."

Conner fidgeted. "So you guys, like, lived together in the Hartford dude's house, right?"

"Mhmm."

"And it was a mansion?"

"Yes, Conner."

"So you had lots of rooms. Like... your own rooms."

Kira forced herself to focus on her hands in her lap. She wasn't sure she could trust herself to keep a neutral facial expression otherwise. "We did."

"And you stayed in those rooms?"

Aw, the poor kid sounded so sad, she couldn't keep it up. "Conner, nothing happened between me and Xander. Ever." She smiled. "I only have room for one arrogant man with a killer smile in my life."

"Wait, are you saying I'm arrogant?"

In situations such as this, Kira had learned the hard way that the most effective method of shutting him up was to occupy his mouth with other things. Mainly, hers. It worked spectacularly well: Conner abandoned his line of questioning and practically threw his arms around her. It was all so predictable: his jealousy, her methods of distraction, his willingness to go along with her methods of distraction, because he was an hot-blooded male, which led to him being jealous in the first place.

In a way, though, not that she'd ever, ever, under pain of death admit it to Conner, she sort of liked the fact that he still got jealous. It meant he cared. It was archaic and sexist and completely stupid, but it meant he still felt she was worth fighting for.

"I'm sorry I'm being stupid," he sighed, brushing some loose hair away from her face. "I just really, really missed you when you were gone. It's really weird, having you being part of a team again. I mean, without us."

"Yeah, it was pretty weird," she admitted. With the others wearing different uniforms from different teams, the transition was somewhat easier. But it was still very difficult to adjust to going into battle, and having entirely new people at her back.

"For me, too," he said. His voice was a little stilted and his gaze was on his hands. Clearly, whatever he wanted to say wasn't easy, or was something he thought she wouldn't like. "And it was really hard for me to be here and not out there, protecting you."

She had to give him credit for knowing her pretty well: she didn't like it. "I don't--" she began, but he held up his hand.

"I know, I know, you don't need protection. And I bet your new teammates found that out the hard way." Conner smiled a little to himself. "But I guess it's like being a cop wife or an army wife or something: wondering if they're ever going to come home. Knowing they're out there, fighting the good fight, and you're stuck here alone with no answers, waiting for the day you get the call."

Kira kissed him again; this time, it wasn't a means to shutting him up, but a way of saying thank you. "You are very sweet in your own way, Conner."

"I try," he shrugged, looking slightly abashed.

"And you succeed." She grinned at him. "You make an excellent wife."

"I... hey... oh, come on. That wasn't what I meant!"

"Whatever you say, Mrs. Ford."

"Okay, now you're just being mean."

"Am I?"

"Cruel," he confirmed.

Kira laughed. "No, cruel is telling you all about the time I caught Xander coming out of the shower..."

"Kira."

The next kiss was an apology. "I love you, dork. Just you. Even if you are stupid."

"I'm not--" But Conner decided this was apparently an avenue he didn't want to go down. He pulled her into his lap. "Oh, whatever."


End file.
